Hory beckons as Satwik-Chirag reach Asian Championship final
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stand a good chance to get crowned as Asian champions after they made the finals of the Asian Championship on Saturday. Playing Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, they led 21-18, 13-14 in the semifinals, when the Taiwanese pairing had to retire after hurting the leg on a full-stretch lunge.
The Indians who won the Swiss Open earlier in the year, will come up against Malaysian Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the Dubai finals. The two pairings have three wins apiece, and the Indians won their last meeting in the semis of the Swiss Open.
Earlier, in the partially played match, Chirag Shetty showed great intent as the Indians attacked from the word go in fast furious exchanges. Satwik was his usual assured self, but on the whole, Indians played at a faster clip and good attacking badminton. The scores stayed close before Chirag’s flick serve at 19-17 gave the Indians the advantage. They would close out at 21-18, to take the opener.
That horic moment 😍🔥@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1#BAC2023#IndiaontheRise#Badmintonpic.twitter.com/3fe5lrJBIo
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 29, 2023
They trailed 1-5 before coming up level and were in the midst of fast exchanges when the Taiwanese were forced to retire through injury. Chi-Lin went for an expansive lunge and hurt himself.
The Indian pairing has been stunningly successful, having not lost a tournament final should they make one, in a long time. The team event at last year’s CWG aside, they enjoy a high win percentage once in the finals. However, the Malaysians are coming off two very good wins beating the World champions and former world no 1s.
