Hangzhou: India’s top men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came up with a smashing performance, defeating the Indonesian duo of Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin to enter the quarterfinals at the Asian Games here Wednesday.
In a contest that lasted a marathon 84 minutes, the Indonesian pair was not willing to concede even an inch to the celebrated Indian duo, ranked No. 3 in the world, before the latter prevailed 24-22, 16-21, 21-12.
The Indonesian world No.11 pair never looked like they were the underdogs, matching the Indians in every aspect, though Satwik’s lethal smashes made the difference in the first game.
The Indians didn’t get the start they would have liked in the second game and trailed for much of the entire 28 minutes the set lasted.
The third set too saw the Indonesians take an early lead but the Indians closed out the match with relative ease 21-12 to secure their place in the last-eight.
Earlier, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy sailed into the quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles events respectively with straight game wins.
Former world champion Sindhu won the round of 16 match against Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-16 21-16, sealing it in her favour without breaking a sweat against the hapless Indonesian.
Sindhu will line up against China’s He Bingjiao in the quarterfinals, and will fancy her chances against the Chinese having denied her a medal at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
Bingjiao won 21-10 21-4 against Rasila Maharjan of Nepal.
Prannoy also booked his spot in the quarterfinals as he beat Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin 21-12 21-13.
Sindhu was excellent in rallies and dictated terms to her opponent from the go, and so was Prannoy, India’s best singles player at the moment who, unfortunately, could not feature in the team event final against China owing to an injury.
However, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were knocked out in the round of 16 by the Korean pair of Kim Soyeong and Kong Heeyong. The Koreans won 21-15, 18-21, 21-13.
Earlier, India’s Tanisha Crasto and Sai Pratheek Krishna Prasad were also bowed out in the Round of 16 after a defeat to Malaysia’s Toh Ee Wei and Chen Tang Jie.
The Malaysian duo won 21-18, 21-18.
PTI