Korea Open 2023 badminton: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty storm into semi-finals

India’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semi-finals of the Korea Open 2023 badminton tournament at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu on Friday.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, third seeds and world No. 3 in the badminton rankings, beat former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-14, 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 500 tournament.

It was the Indian team’s fourth win over the former world No. 1 Japanese pair, seeded fifth at the Korea Open, in five meetings.

In the quarters, the Indian pair quickly took control of the first game with two separate runs of five consecutive points. From 5-5, the scores went to 15-6 in favour of Chirag-Satwik. The Japanese duo bagged the next four points but the deficit proved too much to overcome as the Indians sealed the first game 21-14.

The second game was closely contested. The two teams were at 8-8 before the Indian badminton players switched gears to win six consecutive points to take the lead at 14-9. Hoki-Kobayashi won three straight points to level the scores at 16-16. But the Indian pair edged away to seal the game 21-17 and the match in 40 minutes.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will play second seeds and world No. 2 duo Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of the People's Republic of China in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, meanwhile, was ousted in the opening round after the Indian went down to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po on Wednesday.

Results at the Korea Open count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year.