French Open badminton: Satwik-Chirag beat Takuro-Kobayashi to reach semis

Paris, Oct 28 India's top men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan to reach the semifinals of French Open 2022 BWF Super 750 tournament, here on Friday.

The seventh-seeded men's doubles pairing beat world No.1 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 23-21, 21-18 here at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin on Friday.

Up against Japanese top seeds Takuro and Yugo, the 2021 men's doubles world champions and the seventh-seeded Chirag and Satwiksairaj put up a masterful display to win 23-21, 21-18 in 49 minutes.

The Indian duo will be up against the South Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the semifinals on Saturday.

The world No.8 pair of Chirag and Satwiksairaj began strong and raced to a 20-16 lead but Takuro and Yugo saved four game points to draw level at 20-all. However, the Commonwealth Games 2022 champions held their nerves to take the all-important lead.

The second game proved equally engaging as Hoki and Kobayashi, currently, t'e top men's doubles pair in the world badminton rankings, looked primed to draw level with an 18-16 lead but the Indian pair won five points on the trot to close out the contest.

It was Chirag and Satwiksairaj's third win against the Japanese pair in four meetings.

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