Badminton News: Two Indian men’s doubles badminton stars, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, have secured a comfortable victory in the first round of the Korea Open World Tour Super 500 tournament in Yeosu.

The third pair in the world defeated Thai representatives Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren in back-to-back matches with a score of 21-16, 21-14.

They will then face Chinese pair He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong in the second round on Thursday (7/20).

However, world number 27 pair MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were unable to complete the match after the former suffered from a back problem and retired midway through the opening game when leading 5 -6 against Chinese eighth seeds Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi in their opener. round game.

“I had back pain during the rally. I used a pain relief spray but felt uncomfortable so we decided to pull out. The physio said it sounded like back spasms and that it will be fine in a few days. I’m going to travel to Japan. So let’s see. Hope it’s okay,” Arjun told PTI.

India’s Harshit Aggarwal also couldn’t reach the main draw after losing to Korea’s Choi Pyeong 15-21 21-10 10-21 in his second qualifying match. She beat Malaysia’s Tan Jia Jie in her opening match.

Another Indian player, Shashwat Dalal also lost in the first round, losing 14-21 17-21 to Korea’s Jeong Min Seon, while Meiraba Maisnam withdrew from the qualifying round.

Playing in their first tournament since winning the Indonesia Open Super 1000 last month, Satwik and Chirag appeared in sync as they opened a 4-1 lead and took an 11-6 advantage at halftime. The Indian duo didn’t give their opponents many chances and from 18-15 snatched the remaining points to take a 1-0 lead.

After switching courts, the Thai players put on a great performance as they managed to take a 9-4 lead. However, Satwik and Chirag immediately counterattacked to make it 15-11 and held on as the Thai combination crumbled.

PV Olympic medalist Sindhu Kidambi Srikanth HS Prannoy will be one of the contenders for Indian team Yeosu South Korea this week.

Article Tags: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Korea Open 2023