The star Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris on March 5 with a hard-fought straight-game victory over Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
Satwik and Chirag, who are ranked world no. 1, clinched the title in 2022. They began the tournament strongly on March 5 by defeating the world no. 12 Malaysian pair 21-13, 24-22 in 47 minutes, marking their fifth win in their last eight encounters.
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Satwik and Chirag to face Malaysian duo in 2nd round
In the next round, Satwik and Chirag will face another Malaysian duo, Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee.
Treesa and Gayatri advance to second round
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the second round by securing a hard-fought victory over Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in an all-Indian opening match in the women's doubles event.
Both pairs are competing to qualify for the Paris Olympics. While Tanisha-Ashwini are ranked 11th, Treesa-Gayatri hold the 14th spot in the Olympic Games qualification ranking.
Treesa and Gayatri are in excellent form, having played a crucial role in the Indian women's team's remarkable victory at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia last month.
Satwik and Chirag fall down at final hurdle three times
Meanwhile, the world No. 1 Indian duo of Satwik and Chirag stumbled at the final hurdle three times, finishing as runners-up at the 2023 China Masters Super 750 in November, Malaysia Open Super 1000, and India Open Super 750 events in January.
“I feel losing sometimes it is better than winning all the time. When it really matters it will come. We just need to hang in there,” Satwik had said after the India Open.
“We played three finals, we lost three, it was very close in those matches. We could’ve kept calm in crucial situations,” he added.
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