Indian Men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty secured India’s 1st medal at the World Championships 2022 held in Tokyo after defeating world number 2 – Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in the quarterfinals of Badminton World Championships organized by Badminton World Federation. The duo has assured India of at least a bronze by winning the quarterfinals match on the day 5 of World Championships 2022. The World Championship has been organized this year from August 21 to August 28. It was India’s second World Championships medal in doubles badminton event with Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claiming the first way back in 2011 in the women’s doubles category.
The world number 7 pair (Satwiksairaj and Chirag) has been simply sensational this year, claiming a super 500 India Open title in January before flashing India’s epic win in Thomas Cup and then winning a maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal earlier this month (August). Satwik and Chirag will now face the sixth seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the semifinals of the Championships.
Satwik and Chirag came out with a lot of intent and confidence as they dominated the proceedings early in the game to establish a lead of 12-5 in the first game. Takuro and Yugo made a strong comeback in the second game initially but the Indian duo held them in place and again dominated them till the match end. The Indian duo failed their opponents to negotiate on points. At last Yugo served and sent the shuttle to the net and Chirag let out a cry in celebration.
Earlier on Friday, India’s MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost in straight sets to the Indonesian pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles in the BWF and failed to secure a medal for India. Earlier, Dhruv and Arjun got the better of Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean of Singapore, by winning by 18-21, 21-15, 21-16, but failed to carry the momentum against Indonesia and lost by 8-21, 14-21.The first game was a completely one-sided affair as the Indonesian duo took the upper hand right from the word go and never allowed their opponents to get a hold into the match. The second set was slightly closer than the first, but again, it was Indonesia who held India’s nerve. At one point in the game, the scoreline read 12-9 in favour of Indonesia, meaning that India weren’t out of the game till now. But Setiawan and Ahsan turned the screws just when it mattered the most and got over the line with the utmost comfort and India missed out on a chance of securing themselves a medal.
Earlier in the men’s singles category, Prannoy had raised hopes of a medal after he outwitted two-time former champion Kento Momota and his compatriot and last year’s bronze medallist Lakshya Sen. Prannoy needed to beat Chinese Zhao Jun Peng on Friday to ensure a World Championship medal but failed to do so in a thriller match.
