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Left-right combination pairs present tricky challenge for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

Some opponents irritate more than intimidate. Brushing off their annoyance can be altogether more satisfying and carries fewer frills of drama than overcoming an almighty fear. A cluck and half a grin, suffice; even scoffing is too much. No need to pen ballads to bravery here. A 21-7, 21-10 terse dismissal in 35 minutes on a fabulous Friday at Delhi got the job done.And so it was that the men’s doubles quarterfinals at India Open were wrapped up in a hurried haiku, without resorting to an overwrought Odyssey a week back. Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen are somewhat a bogey team for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty for a long time. It wasn’t that the Indians had never beaten the Danes, they famously did at the Thomas Cup. But half dozen losses lingered. The grudge-invent...
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Indonesia Masters: Kiran fizzles out against reigning Worlds champ Vitidsarn

The lack of a dependable kill-stroke, and an assertive rally-ender cost Kiran George heavily in the Indonesia Masters Super 500 quarterfinals. It will remain the World No 36’s biggest challenge as he tries to crack Top 20 and Top 10 in the coming years.Kiran lost 21-14, 21-6 in 43 long minutes against reigning World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn on Friday. It was a lot of effort expended over long rallies, constructed and defended valiantly, for very low returns, in the absence of that decisive smash-kill. It must be recalled that Vitidsarn and Kodai Naraoka, played the last World Championship finals, and despite the excruciating ennui they bring to proceedings with laborious retrieving, they are in possession of a winning style. Kiran had already played 4 three-setters this week, and tho...
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India Open Badminton 2024 Final Highlights: Satwik-Chirag lose men’s doubles final after 3 three hard-fought games

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty won against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the semifinals at Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2024 at IG Stadium, New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik from Malaysians 21-18, 21-14 in 45 minutes to reach their second straight final on the BWF World Tour this year at the Indira Gandhi Stadium for the India Open. As a result of the win, Satwik and Chirag are set to return to the top of the world rankings in next week’s update as defending champions Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, currently occupying that spot, lost earlier in the event. (READ MORE) !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.call...
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India Open Super 750: Satwik-Chirag the solitary Indian winners on second day, Srikanth pays for unforced errors in early exit

The host country’s only winners on the second day of the India Open Super 750 were the in-form Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and even that didn’t come easy. The World No 2, who only reached India late on Monday night after their runner-up finish at the Malaysia Open last week, brushed off some rustiness and lack of practice at the main court of the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi on Wednesday to defeat Chinese Taipei identical twins Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee.Satwik-Chirag registered a 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 win to reach the second round at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The significant disappointment of the day was a first-round exit for Srikanth Kidambi, who looked to be in control of proceedings at one stage, leading 17-14 in the opening game against world No 18 Le...
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Priyanshu steals a march over Lakshya Sen with a fantastic 16-21, 21-16, 21-13 win

It was deja vu for Lakshya Sen at the India Open. And not the good kind. He’d have come in hoping for a repeat of the 2022 season, where he went on to win the title. Instead, it was a reminder of 2023 where he lost in the second round. That day last year, he lost in the second round after taking the lead in the match against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark. In the decider, he started poorly and trailed 1-8, never recovering from that. This year, he lost in the opening round against his good friend Priyanshu Rajawat. Once again in the decider, he trailed 1-9, and that made all the difference in the end. “The start of the decider could have been much better,” Lakshya said afterward, much as he had done a year back. “Credit to him, but a bunch of unforced errors from me. I think consistently playi...
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India Open 2024: For HS Prannoy and Co, home comfort calling as badminton’s top stars descend on New Delhi

Kunlavut Vitidsarn and An Se Young made a fine start to 2023, winning titles at the India Open. Few months down the line, the two of them would go on to be crowned World Champions in Copenhagen. As the race to Paris 2024 heats up, the two defending champions and reigning Worlds gold medallists will be back in New Delhi alongside a galaxy of badminton stars as the capital hosts the 2024 edition of the India Open Super 750 starting from Tuesday.The India Open has been the prime BWF event in the country for more than a decade, but last year saw a significant upgrade as the tournament was moved up to Super 750 status, just two levels below the top grade on the World Tour. For starters, as one of the six Super 750 events on the circuit, BWF mandates that a group defined by rankings as ‘Top C...
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Can a nylon shuttle match one made of feathers? IIT researchers may have answer

Every time Sanjay Mittal, 55, held a badminton shuttlecock made of feathers, all he thought of was the cruelty inflicted upon birds.This got the IIT Kanpur aerospace engineering professor thinking. Could a nylon alternative replicate the flight pattern of a duck or goose feather shuttle that is used at the sport’s highest levels? Last week, Physics of Fluids, a journal by the American Institute of Physics, published a research paper by Mittal and two other Indian scientists, Darshankumar Zala and Harish Dechiraju, that explored the aerodynamic performance of nylon shuttles at different flight speeds. Their article — ‘Computational analysis of the fluid–structure interactions of a synthetic badminton shuttlecock’ — studied how air flow and speed can deform the flared skirt of the shuttle...
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Many titles or a steady buildup under the radar? What’s the ideal leadup to the Olympics

Saina Nehwal won the Swiss Open, plus Thailand and Indonesia titles right before she medalled at the London Olympics. PV Sindhu meanwhile had 2 first round exits, 3 second round ousters and 5 quarterfinals besides a title at mid-rung Malaysia Masters start of 2016 before she went on the podium at Rio for a glorious silver. Sindhu made the finals of Swiss Open and semis at All England in the season leading up to Tokyo bronze. She wasn’t exactly a Top 5 seed at Rio when the silver came, nor was she sweeping titles in the run-up to Tokyo, but ended up India’s most successful Olympian in badminton. The run-up season to an Olympic medal take-off needn’t be an all-conquering one. Carolina Marin had a pair of quarters and semis in 2016, though the preceding year of 2015 saw her pick 6 titles ...
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Satwik-Chirag save six game points to stun world champions and enter Malaysian Open final

The inscrutable poker face, with even nostrils not permitted to flare, is the hallmark of the greatest badminton champions. One of the most expressive duos on the circuit, Satwik-Chirag gave away nothing to their Korean opponents – not even a decider – as they hollowed out the World champions in 7 scarcely believable minutes of a comeback from 14-20 down at the Axiata Arena at the end of a 21-18, 22-20 win. Over the course of 8 icy-cool points, played casually and with not an iota of desperation, without a menacing stare or gnashing teeth or rolled fists or even a sledgehammer smash, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty mentally disintegrated the reigning champions, Korean Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk. In becoming the first Indians to reach the Malaysia Open finals sneaking up ...
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Parupalli Kashyap to retire; takes on challenge of guiding Kidambi Srikanth first-up

With injuries piling up and resuming his playing career looking difficult, former CWG champion and Olympian Parupalli Kashyap has decided he will announce retirement from the game soon. He was in Kidambi Srikanth’s coaching corner at the season-opening Malaysian Open, and said he will consult BAI president Himanta Sarma, his employers Indian Oil Corporation, sponsors Yonex and down the shutters on an impressive career, hopping into coaching full-time. “The injuries are forcing me to quit though I haven’t officially announced retirement. Meantime I wanted to start working with Gopi sir because it would be foolish not to learn from his experience. I started with a batch of u17 and u19s for a month, and he gave me freedom to coach whoever I wanted to. Then Srikanth approached me to help hi...
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Pramod Bhagat versus Daniel Bethell, a para badminton rivalry to watch out for

Englishman Daniel Bethell has turned around a 2-7 head-to-head record from 2017-2021 against India’s Paralympic and World champion Pramod Bhagat, to now lead 10-8 post his loss in the finals at Tokyo 2020.India’s para-hero in the SL3 category over the last 8 losses spanning Spain, Bahrain, Canada and Thailand, has realised just how challenging it is going to get against Bethell who’s thirsting for a Para Games gold medal that Bhagat won. It is rivalries like these that reinvigorate ambitions of defending champions. Knowing that his chest-level smashes and deceptions that blew Bethell away in that Tokyo final have been neutralized by the Englishman hungry for his glory, has led Bhagat to up his own game, empty his head of memories of past success and go problem-solving looking for counte...
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In 2024, can Satwik-Chirag mend the Paes-Bhupathi heartbreak of 2004 by winning an Olympic medal?

There’s a 20-year-old Olympic medal-sized heartbreak that Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty can help mend if they step on the podium in Paris next year. The 2003 sting in cricket couldn’t be undone in 2023, but a 2004 Olympic sniffle and sob can be upturned into a smile in a racquet sport in 2024.They were adored in Indian sport. It had the potential to become a personal all-time favourite Olympic medal, such was the emotional investment in that match that lasted over four hours going deep into an Athenian abyss of a dark night. And ended in a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 16-14 heartbreak that has been nursed for years, but never patched back to find closure. The year was 2004 and India didn’t used to be winning Olympic medals very much across sports. Hockey was in deep freeze, with cold stabs...
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After Satwik-Chirag, a host of badminton doubles pairings ready to step up in Olympic year

One of the rub-offs of the success of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in doubles is a bunch of younger-paired shuttlers starting to aim high. As soon as the possibility of an Olympic qualification was dangled in front of Tanisha Crasto, the formerly laidback 20-year-old got her act together. Her off-court habits – sleep and food-related – have wisened up. And she’s considerably calmer on court, helped by Ashwini Ponnappa’s composed presence. The year’s final month has seen Tanisha enter the Top 25 in doubles rankings with Ashwini, and the rejigged pair of Tanisha and Dhruv Kapila win their first minor title in mixed, raising hopes of a strong headway in a category where Indians haven’t quite taken off since Jwala Gutta-V Diju left the scene a decade ago. Tanisha had a blossomi...
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China Masters Super 750: Satwik-Chirag fall just short in the final after nearly scripting an epic comeback

An epic comeback, by definition, requires a setback. On Sunday, in the men’s doubles final of the China Masters Super 750, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty seemed down and out at various points in the deciding third game. World No.1 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang led 10-3 and then 19-10. They had seven match points at 20-13. The finish line was in sight. They were bouncing around the court like Energizer bunnies.But the Indians, top seeds at the event, calmly reeled off one point after another to save six of those championship points. But in the end, they fell just short of what would have been one of the all-time great fightbacks, as Liang-Wang won the final 21-19 18-21 21-19 after a 71-minute thriller. It also brought an end to a remarkable win streak for Satwik-Chirag...
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China Masters Super 750: Satwik-Chirag reach another SF in remarkable 2023, but here’s why they haven’t qualified for World Tour Finals

As the quarterfinal featuring Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy got underway on Friday at the China Masters Super 750 in Shenzhen, former Olympic bronze medallist Chris Langridge made an observation on air: “I think the Indians have the best attack in the world.”It was a viewpoint that would be validated over the next 46 minutes as the top seeds from India breezed past the tricky Indonesian duo of Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin 21-16, 21-14. Chirag and Satwik had a 3-0 record against the 2019 Junior World Champions coming into this match, but the contests between these two pairs were never as straightforward as that would suggest. Every one of those past three matches have gone the distance, with the Indians needing three games to win. When the match started, it would seem we...
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China Masters Super 750: Chirag-Satwik show their evolution in front of former coach Tan Kim Her, join HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals

India’s best shuttlers of the 2023 season – HS Prannoy in men’s singles and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in men’s doubles – produced commanding performances on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals at the China Masters Super 750 in Shenzhen. Prannoy got the better of rising young Dane shuttler Magnus Johannesen, breezing through to a controlled 21-12, 21-18 win in 40 minutes. Top seeds Satwik and Chirag made light work of what was a tricky test on paper, getting past the Japanese duo of Akira Koga and Taichi Saito 21-15, 21-16 in 46 minutes. For Chirag and Satwik, the stay at world No. 1 was brief but there is a window to climb back up the rankings if they can go the distance in China. And they have played their two matches so far looking like they mean business. Saito and Koga ...
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China Masters Super 750 badminton: Lakshya Sen, Srikanth Kidambi continue to struggle for consistency after first-round exits

Facing tough opponents in the first round, Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Srikanth Kidambi bowed out of China Masters Super 750 on Wednesday in Shenzhen. Both Sen and Srikanth were up against higher-ranked, seeded players in the round of 32. Sen lost 21-19, 21-18 in a 59-minute battle against home favourite Shi Yu Qi, the world No 7. Srikanth, facing the reigning World Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, went down 15-21, 21-14, 13-21 in 62 minutes. In the other two matches of the day featuring Indians, Priyanshu Rajawat went down 21-17, 21-14 in 46 minutes against Kenta Nishimoto. Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost against 7th seeds Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu of China 21-15, 21-9. The results on Wednesday meant that HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are the remaini...
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Lee Chong Wei-fan Pranauv Ram prepping to transition to seniors playing older players

Seven years ago, when a young Pranauv Ram decided to shift base to Hyderabad to train at the Gopichand Academy from his native town of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, his family had to make a decision. With his father Nagalingam running his brick construction business in Madurai, Ram’s mother Prabhavati decided to shift along with the youngster to Hyderabad. On Sunday evening, as the 16-year-old shocked top seed Dhruv Negi of Uttarakhand with a 21-16, 21-14 win to book his spot in the boys’ singles final in the Yonex Sunrise 30th Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money tournament being organised by Express Shuttle Club Trust at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, the youngster was on a call for more than 30 minutes with his mother. “While my father manages the brick busine...
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Badminton: Dhruv Negi takes advice from Lakshya Sen, inspiration from Lin Dan

As a young kid growing up in Dehradun, Dhruv Negi would often accompany his father Rakesh Negi to the Survey of India office. He would see his father dealing in maps as well trigonometry files in his office and lose interest with his mind drifting towards sport. On Saturday, as the 17-year-old Uttarakhand player eked out a 21-10, 21-18 win over Ishan Rohilla to enter the boys’ singles quarter-finals of the Yonex Sunrise 30th Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money tournament being organised by Express Shuttle Club Trust at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, he dialled up his father to update him about his result. “My father is always involved in his work at the Survey of India office in Dehradun and is always talking about mountains, deserts and sea with his coll...
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With family support, Tanvi Sharma finds blend between volleyball and badminton at Krishna Khaitan Memorial tournament

With her mother and coach Meena Sharma being an international volleyball player, a young Tanvi Sharma would often accompany her to the volleyball and badminton courts at the DC Complex in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. While the Punjab youngster opted to play badminton, her mother took a coaching course in badminton and started coaching her, her elder sister, as well as other students at the complex. On Friday, as the 14-year-old completed her 21-17, 21-19 win over Yashvi Bhat of Delhi in the women’s singles first round match in the Yonex Sunrise 30th Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money tournament being organised by Express Shuttle Club Trust at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, the youngster was instantly reminded by her mother to have a cooling down session. “My moth...