BWF Hong Kong Open: Satwiksiraj Rankireddy Chirag Shetty introduces the first final of the year in | Badminton News – The Times of India

India’s top men’s dubbels few satwiksiraj rankireddy and chirag shetty went on to their first final of 2025 on the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament on Saturday and beat Chinese Taipei’s Bing-Wei Lin and Chen Cheng Kuan in straight games 21-17, 21-15.The Indian duo of the world No. 9, eighth in the tournament, will be confronted in the Chinese Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who defeated the Chinese Taip-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee in the final.The victory marks a considerable breakthrough for the Indian couple after earlier this year confronted with six semi -final defeats.In the opening match, both pairs were evenly adjusted to 3-3 and 6-6 before the Indians pulled ahead to 11-8 by Satwik’s powerful smashes and Chirag’s intercepting.Despite the Taiwanese couple who leveled the score at 12-12, the Indians maintained their momentum to close the first game at their second game point.In the second game, Chen and Lin saw an early 4-2 lead, but the Indians came first to 6-6 after a service error from their opponents.The Taiwanese led 10-8 briefly before Satwik’s Smash brought the score to 12-all. The Indians then took control, so that their lead stretched to 17-15 and eventually securing the match point when their opponents hit long.This victory is an important comeback for Satwik and Chirag, which have confronted for countless challenges in the past year.The couple had previously experienced disappointment at the Olympic Games and lost to Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia, but managed to secure a bronze medal in the world championships.Their journey was further complicated by Satwik’s back and elbow lesions after Olympics, followed by the tragic loss of his father to cardiac arrest in February and a subsequent attack of chickenpox.Chirag was also about persistent back problems during this period, which influenced their performance and results.