Basel (Switzerland), March 25 (IANS) India’s top men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the final of the Swiss Open 2023 with a win over Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, here on Saturday.
Satwik-Chirag, sixth in the badminton rankings for men’s doubles, defeated the world No. 8 Malaysian pair 21-19, 17-21, 21-17 in the semi-finals of the BWF Super 300 tournament.
In the final on Sunday, the Indian pair will play world No. 21 Chinese pair of Tan Qiang and Ren Xiang Yu for their first title of the 2023 season.
Playing at the St Jakobshalle arena, Satwik and Chirag made a bright start to the match and led Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 11-8 at the first break.
Taking the momentum from the Indian players, Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi had the first game in their hands at 19-17. However, a late assault from the Indian pair won them the last four points as they went 1-0 up.
The change of ends proved to be challenging for the Indian badminton players as Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi built a four-point lead at the break and built on it to draw even at 1-1. The Malaysian pair had their noses ahead initially in the third game. However, after Satwik-Chirag took a lead at 6-5, they built a seven-point lead at 18-11.
While the Malaysians bridged the gap in the final stages of the third game, the effort proved to be futile in the end with the Indians sealing the match in 68 minutes.
This was Satwik and Chirag’s third win against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in their sixth meeting.
–IANS
ak/
