Men’s doubles pair of Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty entered the Malaysia Open 2025 at the Axiata Arena on Friday.
In a battle between two unseeded pair, the World No.14 clinched a convincing 21-15, 21-11 win over world No. 29 Christo Popov-Toma Junior Popov of France in a match that lasted for 31 minutes.
It is for the first-time the Malaysian pair entered the Super 1000 semi-finals.
Meanwhile, India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair kept the hopes of a medal alive for the country by brushing aside Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 26-24, 21-15.
There was massive support for the home pair but the Indian duo remained unperturbed regardless.
“This is a good start to the year, we couldn’t have started on a better note. We want to still go as deep in the tournament as possible,” Chirag Shetty said after their win.
“As athletes, these are the kind of stadiums you want to play in. You want to play in packed arenas in the crucial parts of a tournament. We really could not have asked for a better crowd. Obviously the crowd was supporting the local pair. But as a professional badminton athlete, this is one of the best stadiums to play in.”
“Hopefully the crowd will support us tomorrow,” chimed in Satwiksairaj Rankireddy with a grin.
Malaysia Open Badminton 2025 Quarter-Finals Results:
Men’s singles: Li Shi Feng (Chn) bt Chi Yu Jen (Tai) 14-21, 21-13, 21-7; Shi Yu Qi (Chn) bt Chou Tien Chen (Tai) 21-16, 19-21, 21-17; Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Angus Ng (HK) 21-18, 21-15; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-14, 21-13.
Doubles: Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae (Kor) bt Lee Fang Chih-Lee Fang Jen (Tai) 21-11, 21-7; Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi (Chn) bt Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) 21-17, 21-17; Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun bt Christo Popov-Thoma Junior Popov (Fra) 21-15, 21-11; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi 26-24, 21-15.
Women’s singles: An Se Young (Kor) bt Zhang Beiwen (US) 21-11, rtd; Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Putri Kusuma Wardani (Ina) 21-13, 15-21, 21-16; Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) bt Yeo Jia Min (Sin) 22-20, 21-16; Pornpicha Choeikeewong (Tha) bt Han Yue (Chn) 18-21, 21-13, 21-19.
Doubles: Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) bt Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-14, 21-18; Misaki Matsutomo-Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Li Yi Jing-Luo Xu Min (Chn) 21-16, 21-16; Jia Yi Fan-Zhang Shu Xian (Chn) bt Lanny Tria Mayasari-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (Ina) 21-12, 21-11; Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Hsieh Pei Shan-Hung En Tzu (Tai) 21-11, 21-8.
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) bt Thom Gicquel-Delphine Delrue (Fra) 21-12, 14-21, 21-7; Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai bt Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi (Chn) 21-15, 22-20; Feng Yan Zhe-Huang Dong Ping (Chn) bt Yang Po Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang (Tai) 21-19, 21-14; Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei bt Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-11, 21-18.