Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Satwik-Chirag Script History; PV Sindhu Ousted In Quarterfinals

The Indian pair got the better of Indonesia’s experienced duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games 21-11, 21-12 in the quarter-finals match that lasted for just 28 minutes.

Satwik-Chirag pair, who have been on the rise for the last few years, will next face Chinese Taipei pair Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin in the semifinals on Saturday (April 29) after 6:30 PM IST on court 1.

After winning the game, Satwik said, “Playing against senior players like them, there is no strategy. They can come back at any time; they have that mindset. So from starting onwards, we didn’t take it as pressure and we tried to enjoy every point.

“They are like idols. We have been following them since a young age. When we took our racquets, they were already All-England champions and world champions. So, we know how they play.

“But going into the match, we had a strategy with our coach and focus on the service receiving – they are very strong at it. After the injury, the way we are playing it’s a good sign for us.”

When asked how proud he feels, Chirag Shetty said, “The job is still not done. We played some really good badminton today.”

Earlier in the day, there was a disappointment as India’s PV Sindhu bowed out of the BAC 2023 after suffering a defeat to South Korea’s An Se-young in the women’s singles quarterfinals.

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The eighth-seeded Indian lost to the second-seeded Korean shuttler by a scoreline of 21-18, 5-21, 9-21 in the last eight match on court 2 that lasted for just under an hour – 58 minutes.

This was the former World Champion Sindhu’s sixth defeat in as many matches against Se-young, who proved to be a nemesis to the Indian over the years. Sindhu, who won the first game, looked totally out of sorts for the remainder of the contest on Friday (April 28).

The Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medallist Sindhu made a wonderful comeback in the first game despite trailing in the initial stages to take the game 21-18. But, Korean raced to take points at speed in the second essay to seal the game 21-5.

In the decider, the Korean once again dominated the Indian to clinch the game 21-9 and eventually the match from a game down to win 2-1. Se-young will next face the winner of Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and Chen Yu Fei in the semifinal on Saturday (April 29).

Later, HS Prannoy was forced to withdraw midway through the men’s singles quarterfinals against Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama due to an injury during the second game. The Indian, who had dropped the first game 11-21, was trailing 9-13 in the second game.

Earlier in the day, there was further disappointment for India as mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy, who received a walkover to reach the last 8, suffered a loss to Indonesian pair Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.

The Indian mixed doubles pair forced the game into the decider, but lost to the Indonesian pair by a scoreline of 18-21, 21-18, 15-21 in the quarterfinal match that lasted for an hour and five minutes on court 2.