Hong Kong, September 9 : Asian Games champions men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made it to round two of the ongoing Hong Kong Open badminton event on Tuesday.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag, playing the tournament just days after their second World Championships bronze medal, outclassed the 17th-ranked Chinese Taipei pair of Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in 59 minutes, as per Olympics.com.
The round of 16 challenge for the popular men's doubles pair would be either Japan's Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura or Thailand's Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in the round of 16.
Also, the former world number one Kidambi Srikkanth faced a stunning exit in the qualifying round. The former World Championships silver medalist was defeated by compatriot Tharun Mannepalli 28-26, 13-21, 21-18 in an all-Indian clash. Tharun, however, lost in the second round of qualifiers to Jun Hoh of Malaysia.
Among other Indians, Kiran George beat Malaysia's Cheam June Wei and compatriot Sankar Subramanian in the qualifiers to advance to the main draw of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 tournament.
Paris 2024 Olympians Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will start their campaign on Wednesday. Only two Indians have secured the Hong Kong Open title, with Prakash Padukone winning the first men's singles title in 1982 and Saina Nehwal capturing the women's crown 28 years later.
Hong Kong Open 2025: Indian results on Day 1
Men's singles qualification round of 16: Tharun Mannepalli bt Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 13-21, 21-18
Men's singles qualification round of 16: Kiran George bt Cheam June Wei (MAS) 14-21, 21-13, 21-13
Men's singles qualification round of 16: Sankar Subramanian bt Wang Yuehan (ENG) 21-10, 21-5
Men's singles qualification quarter-finals: Tharun Mannepalli lost to Jun Hoh (MAS) 23-21, 13-21, 21-18
Men's Singles qualification quarter-finals: Kiran George bt Sankar Subramanian 21-18, 21-14
Men's doubles round of 32: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin (TPE) 21-13, 18-21, 21-10.
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