Swiss Open: Indian badminton duo seals their spot in semi-finals

Commonwealth Games men's doubles champions Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy progressed to the semi-finals of the Swiss Open 2023 badminton in Basel on Friday.

Playing at the St. Jakobshalle arena, Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, ranked sixth in the BWF Rankings for men's doubles, defeated world No. 27 Danish pair of Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 in the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 300 tournament. The Indian badminton team started slowly and trailed the Danes 11-6 at the first break. However, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy cut down the deficit to one point at 16-15 by marking a strong comeback. Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede won the first game by scoring five straight points.

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy found their rhythm in the second game, and they made the Danish pair dance to their tunes. They capitalised on an 11-3 lead at the interval and took the match into the decider. Both teams began the third game on equal footing and were tied at 4-4. The Indian badminton players, who won a bronze medal at the world championships last year, changed gears and mixed their shots well to seal the contest in 54 minutes.

This was Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's second win against Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede in as many meetings. The Indian pair had beaten the Danes in the round of 16 of the BWF World Championships last year. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will face the world No. 8 duo of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia in the semi-finals on Saturday. The Malaysian pair defeated the Indian duo en route to winning bronze at the 2021 world championships and hold a 3-2 lead in the head-to-head fixtures.

Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is the last remaining Indian challenge at this year's Swiss Open. Last edition's women's singles champion PV Sindhu and India's top-ranked men's singles player HS Prannoy crashed out in the round of 16. (ANI)