In a mixed day for the Indian shuttlers at the Malaysia Open on Friday, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty progressed to the semis, while the women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto were ousted in the quarters.
The WR-2 Satwik/Chirag beat China’s Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting in straight games 21-11, 21-8, in just 35 minutes. The duo will now face either Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae or third seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
On the other hand, Ashwini/ Tanisha lost 15-21 13-21 to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi. This loss came after, the Indian women stunned the former WR-1 Japanese pair Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara in the pre-quarters.
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Earlier, all the Indian singles shuttlers had crashed out of the Malaysia open. HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen lost in the first rounds, while Kidambi Srikanth could not go beyond the second.