Indian men's badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Hylo Open 2022. The Indian pair defeated Yang Lee and Chen Lu in the round of 32 in Saarbrucken, Germany on Wednesday.
/sportzpoint/media/post_attachments/d494c3e39426bdd3fda619d6bfe152bb7cd3aafcda0772670f39c3e1b4473888.jpg)
Satwik-Chirag, who won the French Open 2022 last week, defeated the Chinese Taipei pair 19-21, 21-19 and 21-16 in a 61-minute match to reach the pre-quarterfinals. The world number eight pair will next face England's Rory Easton and Zach Russ.
Following a close start in their first game, the Chinese Taipei pair managed to score seven points in a row and put Satwik-Chirag on the backfoot. The Indian pair mounted a comeback but Yang Lee and Chen Lu held through to take the opening game.
A competitive second game saw points exchanged between the two pairs in quick succession. But Satwik and Chirag held their nerves in the closing moments to force a decider. The Indian badminton duo stepped up in the final game and completed the comeback to progress into the round of 16 of Hylo Open 2022.
However, India's experienced female badminton player Saina Nehwal had to face defeat. Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan defeated Saina for the sixth time in a row in the women's singles event. Third seed Busanan beat Saina 21-15, 21-8 which lasted 34 minutes.
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy in men's singles and MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila in men's doubles gave walkovers to their respective rivals in the first-round matches. In another women's singles match, Malvika Bansod defeated Spain's Clara Azurmendi 20-22, 21-12, 21-6 to enter the second round.
On the other hand, Kidambi Srikanth defeated China's Lu Guang Zu, in the men's singles match. Former world number one, Srikanth won this match 15-21, 21-14 and 21-13 to ensure his place in the last 16.