India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty wobbled through to the India Open Badminton 2025 quarter-finals on Thursday after overcoming a first-game setback 20-22, 21-14, 21-16 against Japan’s Hiroki Okamura and Kenya Mitsuhashi.
Satwiksairaj acknowledged the fighting spirit shown by their compatriot, saying, “I was wondering after the first game that we have to play two more sets to beat them. It’s always challenging to play three sets when you’re playing back-to-back tournaments”.
We were too comfortable going into the 1st game. They had a fighting spirit…We are lucky to be on the winning side,” he added.
Satwik and Chirag maintained their composure despite the early setback to secure a place in the final eight.
Chirag, meanwhile, accepted the unforced errors which cost them the first game.
…A few errors cost us the first game. The last time when we played them (Japanese badminton players Hiroki Okamura and Kenya Mitsuhashi), we managed to beat them in two straight sets…But we made a comeback and didn’t give them a chance in the 2nd and 3rd games…”
The Indian pair will be looking for their first triumph in 2025 after finishing as the semi-finals at the season-opening Malaysian Open 2025.
India Open Badminton 2025 Day 3 Results
Men’s singles
- Kiran George bt Alex Lanier (FRA) 22-20, 21-13
Women’s singles
- PV Sindhu bt Manami Suizu (JPN) 21-15, 21-13
- Anupama Upadhyaya lost to Tomoka Miyazaki (JPN) 21-6, 21-9
Men’s doubles
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bt Hiroki Okamura and Kenya Mitsuhashi (JPN) 20-22, 21-14, 21-16
Women’s doubles
- Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto (JPN) 9-21, 21-23.
- Rutaparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda lost to Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (KOR) 21-6, 21-7
- Ashwini Bhat-Shikha Gautam vs Li Yijing-Luo Xumin (CHN) 21-7, 21-10
Mixed Doubles
- Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh lost to Yang Po-han-Hu Ling-fang (TPE) 21-8, 21-11
- Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila lost to Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (JPN) 21-18, 21-17