NEW DELHI: Star Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals while HS Prannoy faced a close defeat in the second round of the Malaysia Super 1000 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Satwik and Chirag secured a victory against Malaysian players N Azriyn and Tan WK with scores of 21-15 21-15 in a 43-minute match during the round of 16.
The Indian seventh seeds are set to face local duo Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo in the quarterfinals.
"It feels really good, happy to be back on tour. Good start to the year and looking forward to go as far in the tournament as possible," Chirag said after the match.
"We started again with our new coach, so it's all new, pretty happy. We've worked with him (new coach) before. He was the one who paired both me and Satwik up when we were young youngsters, just entering the Indian team," he added.
Prannoy experienced a defeat against China's Li Shi Feng with scores of 8-21, 21-15, 21-23 in the men's singles second round.
The 32-year-old Indian, making his return post-Paris Olympics, showed resilience after losing the first game but ultimately fell short in an hour and 22 minutes against seventh-seeded Li.
Malvika Bansod lost her women's round of 16 match against third-seeded Han Yue of China, ranked world number five, with scores of 18-21 11-21.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost their women's doubles round of 16 match to Chinese pair Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian, with scores of 21-15, 19-21, 19-21.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, recent finalists at Syed Modi Super 300 International Tournament, lost to Chinese seventh seeds Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi 13-21, 20-22 in 44 minutes.
Another Indian mixed doubles pair, Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, lost to fourth-seeded Malaysian duo Soon Huar Goh and Shevon Jemie Lai with scores of 10-21 17-21.
