Malaysia Open 2025: Satwik-Chirag reach semifinals

New Delhi, January 11: Indian men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the semifinals of the Malaysia Super 1000 Badminton Tournament on Friday.

The duo defeated Malaysia’s Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo 26-24, 21-15 in a 49-minute match.

The previous edition’s runners-up, Satwik and Chirag, will now face South Korea’s Won Ho Kim and Seung Je Seo in the semifinals.

In the first game, the seventh-seeded Indian pair took an early lead in a tough battle that lasted 28 minutes.

In the second game, the Malaysian pair fought hard and maintained the lead for most of the first half. However, the Indian duo leveled the score at 11-11. After that, Satwik and Chirag made an incredible comeback, winning 13 of the next 17 points to seal the match and secure their place in the semifinals for the third consecutive time.

After the win, Chirag said, "Definitely, a great start to the year. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2025. We still want to go as far as possible in the tournament and hope we will do that."

Talking about the venue, he said, "As athletes, these are the kinds of stadiums you want to play in, you want to play in packed arenas. We couldn’t have asked for a better crowd. Obviously, they were supporting the local pair because they were the home players. As a professional, this is one of the best stadiums to play in."