Kuala Lumpur, Jan 14:
Shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty scripted history as they became the first Indian pair to storm into the prestigious Malaysia Open 2024 men’s doubles finals here on Saturday.
They beat the reigning world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae of the Republic of Korea in the semifinals to secure a berth in the men’s doubles final.
Rankireddy and Shetty,second in the world badminton rankings, trounced the world No.3 Korean pair by 21-18, 22-20 to make the final cut in the Malaysia Open – a BWF Super 1000 tournament.
Satwik-Chirag raced to a 5-0 lead with their attacking game, but the Korean pair reduced the gap by one point. However, the Indian pair prevailed with the lead. Kang and Jae did save two game points but couldn’t stop the Indians from taking the crucial lead.
The Korean pair pulled all strings in their favour, and at the break were leading with five points, as they built their game around long rallies. They were on the brink of leveling the match at 20-14, but Satwik and Chirag denied this distinction with an out-of-the-box comeback.
The Indian pair clinched six points on the trot, rattling the Korean pair with quick flat returns and sealed the match with an eight-pointer effort at a stretch. This was the Indian pair’s fourth win over Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae in six meetings.
The Indian badminton players will take on the winner of the match between world No.1 Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of the People’s Republic of China and Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, ranked seventh, in the final on Sunday.
Results at the Malaysia Open will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
