China Masters 2023: Satwik-Chirag and HS Prannoy win their respective games to go through to the quarterfinals

Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with HS Prannoy, have stormed into the quarterfinals of the China Masters 2023 Badminton tournament in Shenzhen on Thursday.

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The 31-year-old Prannoy, who was out of action for a few tournaments due to a back injury, defeated Denmark's Magnus Johannesen 21-12, 21-18 in 40 minutes. This was the first meeting between the two players and Prannoy took this easily against the much younger opponent. Magnus fought hard in the second game to tie the score at 14-14 but Prannoy showed his experience and took five straight points to convert the set in his favour. Asian Games bronze medalist Prannoy will next face Japan's Kodai Naraoka in the China Masters 2023 quarterfinals.

Top seeded Asian Games gold medalist pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also managed to reach the quarters of men's doubles with a comfortable 21-15, 21-16 win against Japan's Akira Koga and Taichi Saito. The Commonwealth Games champion pair of Satwik and Chirag will face Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin.

The World No. 5 Indian duo looked solid in both games as the Japanese pair was uncomfortable against the smashes of the Indian pair. In the second game, the Indian pair didn't concede the lead and closed the match easily. Satwik & Chirag avenged their first-round loss to this Japanese pair earlier this year in the Singapore Open.

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However, in the China Masters 2023 men's singles event, Indian shuttler put disappointing show as Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and Priyanshu Rajawat suffered contrasting defeats.

Srikanth, the former world no. 1, bowed out of the tournament after going down (15-21, 21-14, 13-21) fighting against reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn. This was Srikanth's third consecutive first-round exit on the World Tour since the Arctic Open in October, where he lost in the second round. While world no. 17 Lakshya lost to local favourite Shai Yuqi 21-19, 21-18. This was Lakshya's fifth consecutive first-round loss on the World Tour this year. He last won a title in July when he won the Canada Open.