Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and
Chirag Shetty defeated Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia 21-11, 16-21, 21-11 in the BWF World Tour Finals round robin match in Hangzhou on Thursday.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!With the second consecutive victory in Group B, the Indians have one foot in Saturday’s semifinals. In the other Group B match, the Chinese duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang drubbed Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia 21-14, 21-18. The Chinese and Malaysian pairs have one victory each. On Friday, the Malaysian duo plays Satwik-Chirag. The Chinese pair plays the Indonesian duo.
If Aaron-Soh beats Satwik-Chirag, Liang-Wang gets past Fajar-Fikri, then three teams — Malaysia, India and China — will have two wins each. It will then come down to the difference in points to decide the two semifinalists from Group B. The Indian duo has an advantage on points.
In the hour-long encounter, Satwik-Chirag dominated the Indonesians. The Indians scored the first six points and led 11-2 at the break.
Curbing their aggression, the Indians retrieved the shuttle with ease and engaged their rivals in flat rallies. While Chirag secured some difficult winners, Satwik hardly made a mistake. The world record holder for the fastest smash, focused on winning points through crosscourt drives and exchanges rather than power-packed smashes.
Satwik-Chirag faced stiff opposition in the second game as the Indonesians worked hard to unsettle the Indians.
After joining TOI in 2005, he has been predominantly covering bad...
Read MoreAfter joining TOI in 2005, he has been predominantly covering badminton along with other sports. He has reported all the exciting moments of the badminton revolution that unfolded with the exploits of the Indian shuttlers since 2008.
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