Top Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated top seeds and former world champions, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, 23-21, 21-18 in the quarterfinals of the French Open BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament in Paris on Friday.
Despite facing stiff resistance from the Japanese pair in the first game, Indians kept their nerves to prevail over their opponents.
Leading 20-16, Satwik-Chirag failed to capitalise on five game-points but managed to squeeze past their rivals. In the second game, they fought back from 16-18 with a five-point burst.
In the semifinals, the world No. 8 Indians will square up against Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho. The South Koreans are ranked No. 18 in the world.
On Friday, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Kidambi Srikanth lost their second-round matches in men’s singles. Lakshya Sen and Saina Nehwal suffered first-round losses.
Sankar assured of bronze medal at junior Worlds
Chennai shuttler S Sankar Muthusamy is the lone bright spot for India at the World Junior Badminton Championships. The former junior world No. 1 assured himself of the bronze as he stormed into the semifinals with a hard-fought victory against Hu Zhen An of China 21-18, 8-21, 21-16 in the quarterfinals in Santander, Spain.
Other promising names like Unnati Hooda and Anupama Upadhyaya lost in the earlier rounds.
This would be India's 10th medal at the junior Worlds. Indian youngsters have won one gold, three silver and five
bronze medals in this tournament in the past.
Saina Nehwal, who won the title in 2008, was the only world junior champion from India. Lakshya Sen won bronze in the 2018 edition.
Unlike other Indian medallists, Sankar is not a product of any top badminton academy. On Friday, the 18-year-old recovered after losing the second game to dominate the Chinese in the third. Despite losing the second game with a big margin, Sankar made a spirited comeback and dominated Zhen in the decider.
In the semifinals, Sankar will face Panitchapon Teeraratsakul of Thailand, who defeated Pan Yin Long of China.
