Satwik-Chirag qualify for BWF Finals
The Hindu
The Indian pair leapfrogs the Japanese in the Road to Bali
The World No. 11 doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has become the first Indian men’s doubles pair to qualify for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals starting here on Wednesday.
Satwik and Chirag had lost in the semifinals of the Indonesia Open last week but made the cut after the Japanese pair of Akira Koga and Taichi Saito also lost in the last four at the Super 1000 tournament.
The Indians thus leapfrogged the Japanese in the Road to Bali to book the berth at the year-ending event.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.