Badminton, Malaysia Open: Satwik/Chirag enter second round as HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen crash out

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty began the 2024 season on a winning note, advancing to the second round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the remaining two challengers in men’s singles, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen both crashed out in the opening round of the tournament in Malaysia.

World No 8 Prannoy lost to Denmark's Anders Antonsen, a player ranked one spot below him, 14-21, 11-21 in 43 minutes. Sen went down 15-21, 16-21 to China’s Weng Hong Yang in 49 minutes.

This means that Srikanth Kidambi, who beat fifth seed Jonatan Christie on Tuesday, is the only Indian remaining in the event. Also on the same day, the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa cruised into the second round.

The world No 2 doubles pair were up against the Indonesian pair of Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Maulana Bagas who they beat 21-18, 21-19 in 44 minutes.

The first game was dominated by the Indians who raced to an 8-4 lead and never looked back. The second game proved to be trickier for Rankireddy and Shetty who trailed for most of the game before levelling at 19-all and winning the final two points to...

Read more