CWG champion pair Satwik-Chirag enter French Open final, while Sankar creates history to become the second boy’s singles player to reach World Jr C’ships summit clash
India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy (left) and Chirag Shetty. Pic/Badminton Association of India
Commonwealth Games champion Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the men’s doubles final of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament with a commanding straight-game win over Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho, here on Saturday.
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The World No.8 Indian pair dished out an attacking game and also controlled the net well to outwit the Korean combination, ranked 18th, 21-18, 21-14 in the semi-finals that lasted 45 minutes.
Second World tour final
The Indian pair, seeded seventh, thus reached its second final of a BWF world tour event in 2022, having won the India Open Super 500 tournament in January earlier this year.
Sankar Muthusamy
Satwik and Chirag, who had won a bronze medal at the World Championships in August, will play the winner of the other semi-final between England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy and Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.
Up against opponents whom they have never played before, Chirag was relentless at the front court, while Satwik unleashed his booming smashes from the back as the Indians put up a clinical show at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
Also Read: Lakshya Sen faces Kidambi Srikanth in opening round
Meanwhile, Sankar Muthusamy on Saturday became only the second boy’s singles player from India to reach the BWF World Junior Championships final when he defeated Thailand’s Panitchapon Teeraratsakul in straight games at Santandar, Spain, on Saturday. Seeded fourth in the tournament, Muthusamy showed great athleticism and tactical acumen to outwit Teeraratsakul 21-13, 21-15 in a 40-minute semi-final.
He will take on the winner of the other semi-final between Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Kuan Lin and Korea’s Byung Jae Kim in the summit clash on Sunday. In the tournament history, India has so far won a gold, 3 silver and five bronze medals with Lakshya Sen bagging the last medal, a bronze, in 2018.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to win the junior world championship title in 2008. She had also reached the finals in 2006 but settled for silver.
Verma came close in 2015
Siril Verma also came close to claiming the title in 2015 but lost the final against Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hung Lu, while Aparna Popat (1996) is another Indian to reach the world junior finals in the past.
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