Malaysia Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty Pair Enters Men's Doubles Quarterfinals, Kidambi Srikanth Loses

India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their impressive run to advance to the men's doubles quarterfinals at Malaysia Open

India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their impressive run to advance to the men's doubles quarterfinals but Kidambi Srikanth failed to cross the second round at Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament in Mohali on Thursday. World No. 2 Satwik and Chirag, who had a stellar run in 2023 with six titles, beat France's world No. 36 Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-11 21-18 to set up a clash with China's world No. 32 He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu.

The Indian women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who claimed the Guwahati Masters super 100 title last month, shocked seventh seeded Japanese pair of Wakana Nagahara and Mayu Matsumoto 21-19, 13-21, 21-15 to inch closer in their effort to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Srikanth, however, failed to rein in his errors and went down 13-21 17-21 to Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus in the second round.

Satwik and Chirag, the Asian Games gold medallists, dished out an aggressive game to gallop to 11-2 lead at the break in the opening game. A seven-point burst after resumption gave the French pair hope as they made it 12-14.

But the Indian combination soon found their bearing to run away with the opening game after gathering the remaining seven points on the trot.