Satwik Chirag wins their second bronze medal at the BWF World Championships | Badminton News – The Times of India

Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept the Indian challenge alive in the BWF world championships by reaching the semi -final of the men and ensuring India of a medal. In a Friday night high-voltage quarte final in Paris, the Indian duo surprised the double Olympic medal winners of Malaysia Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-12, 21-19 with their characteristic attacking playing style. It was a sweet revenge for Satwik Chirag about their world NR. 2 Malaysian opponents, who have been on the circuit in recent years. A year after the heartache in the Olympic Games, where World No. 9 Satwik Chirag lost to the same rivals in the quarters and missing an Olympic medal, saw the dynamic Indian shuttlers determined and focused and eliminated the 2022 world champion in 43 minutes. It was the only fourth victory of the Indians in 15 meetings against the Malaysians. No wonder ‘sat-chi’, as they are known on the circuit, were jubilant and felt a sense of redemption. “You feel really good. It was a kind of rematch of the Olympic Games. I think we finally got some redemption. It was the same court, the same arena. A year ago exactly. Olympic Games and now world championships. It’s always a pleasure to play against them. It will be the second world medal for Satwik Chirag after their bronze from 2022. Their medal also expanded India’s line at every edition, because Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won women’s doubles bronze in 2011. The Asian Games champions will now collide with 11th seeds Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi from China. The Indians had defeated Chinese 21-15, 21-15 in the 2024 Thailand Open Final, their only meeting so far. Asked if the Chinese will be underdogs, Satwik quickly replied: “Not at all. Playing semi -finals, no underdogs.” Chirag added: “Just like any other game we played here. Take the one game at the same time. They are a good, formidable pair. We played against it earlier. I am really looking forward to it.” Supported by coaches Kin Tan Haar from Malaysia and Sumeeth Reddy from India, Satwik Chirag couple on fire. The Malaysians struggled to find their rhythm early, allowing the Indians to dictate the pace and easily take the opening match. In the second game, Satwik Chirag turned the heat and pushed the Malaysians deep into the Achterhof. Aaron-Wooi Yik mounted a spicy fightback from 11-17 to level on 19-19, but their late comeback was demolished when the Indians held their nerve to close the game. “In the second game, even when we led, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. We played them many times before and every time we won in straight matches, the neck went,” said Satwik, who lost his father in February of this year.