Korea Open 2023 badminton: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty sail into second round

Indian badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty cruised into the second round of men’s doubles at the Korea Open 2023 badminton tournament on Tuesday.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, playing their first match since the Indonesia Open title win last month, made a winning return to the court with a 21-16, 21-14 victory over Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren.

The Indian duo picked up right from where they left off in Indonesia and took an 11-6 lead heading into the first mid-game break of the match. Despite a tough fight from the Thai players after the restart, Chirag-Satwik held on to take the lead.

Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren started the second game with purpose and raced to a 9-4 lead. The Indians, though, turned the tables and wrapped up the match in 32 minutes.

The world No. 3 Indian pair will face off against the People's Republic of China’s He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong, who won the Madrid Masters this year, in the pre-quarterfinals.

MR Arjun and Dhurv Kapila, however, bowed out. Up against Chinese eighth seeds Liu Yu Chen, one-half of the Tokyo Olympics men’s doubles silver medallists, and Ou Xuan Yi in the first round, the Indian pair had to retire after MR Arjun seemed to be struggling with a back injury.

In the men’s singles qualifiers, none of the Indian badminton players in action on the day made it through to the main draw.

Harshit Aggarwal won the first round against Malaysian shuttler Tan Jia Jie 21-15, 21-17 but lost to Chinese Taipei’s Choi Pyeong Gang in the second. Shashwat Dalal failed to cross the first hurdle after going down to local player Jeong Min Seon 21-14, 21-17.

India’s Meiraba Luwang Maisnam was scheduled to play but withdrew.

PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will play in the main draw of the singles competitions starting Wednesday.