Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a minor blip but outclassed Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia 21-15, 19-21, 21-9 to enter the quarterfinals of the BWF World championship s in Copenhagen on Thursday.
HS Prannoy reached the men's singles quarterfinals with a hard fought 21-18, 15-21, 21-19 victory against former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. Lakshya Sen lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 14-21, 21-16, 21-13.
The Indian challenge in women's doubles, however, ended with 15th seeds Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand losing 14-21, 9-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China.
Second-seeded Satwik and Chirag not only stayed on course here but also closed in on the top rank. A couple of victories in Denmark may propel them to the top as the world No.1 pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia crashed out following their 18-21, 19-21 defeat to unseeded Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei late on Wednesday.
The Indians are 4,268 points behind the Indonesians, who will lose points due to their second round exit. The difference between No.2 ranked Indians and No.3 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China is over 7,200 points. "We never really chased that (top spot). Our main job is p lay to the best of our ability. We are focused only on winning matches and don't want to think about anything else," said Chirag when queried on the likely changes in the world rankings.
Barring a few defensive lapses in the second game, Satwik-Chirag looked good against the Indonesians. Chirag, who made the errors towards the end of the second game, was at his attacking best, scoring points with his smashes and quick returns. "It felt good to win on the main court. Though we were in control of the second game, we lost it. It's a good learning experience for us," Satwik said.
