Satwik-Chirag storm into BWF World Championships 2025 semifinals

Paris [France], August 30 (ANI): India's star men's doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty once again showcased why they are among the very best in the world, as they sealed their spot in the semifinals of the BWF World Championships 2025 with a commanding victory over Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarterfinals in Paris.
The Indian pair produced a clinical performance to register a straight-games win with 21-12, 21-19, at the Adidas Arena.
It was a sense of sweet revenge as the last time the two pairs met was in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics 2024, where Chia and Soh had ended the Indians' dreams with a heartbreaking defeat, but this time, the Indians turned the tables in style.
With this win, Satwik and Chirag have guaranteed themselves a medal, which will be their second World Championships medal. Their first podium finish came in 2022, when they lost in the semifinals to the same Malaysian duo they defeated in the World Championships.
The Indian pair will now face China's World No. 11 Liu Yi and Chen Bo Yang in the semifinals on Saturday, and with their current form and confidence, they will look to push for a place in the World Championships final.
Earlier, India's top shuttler PV Sindhu's campaign at the BWF World Championships concluded with a bitter defeat in the quarterfinals against Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani.
World number 15 Sindhu was ousted by world number nine by 14-21, 21-13, 16-21 in a fixture that lasted an hour and four minutes. Throughout the contest, Putri played shots deceptively to make Sindhu cover the entire court. Sindhu tried to negate it with her long reach but lacked the composure to wrap up the game in her favour.
The pulsating contest began as a cagey affair with both shuttlers making a couple of unforced errors from the start, leaving them inseparable at 3-3. After an impressive counterplay, Putri took a narrow 6-8 lead over Sindhu and extended it to 7-11 at the halfway mark of the first game.
Sindhu tried to stage a comeback with four points on the trot but continued to trail by a five-point margin at 14-19. Sindhu's high return landed wide, forcing her to settle for a 14-21 defeat in the opening game of the quarterfinal.
In the second game, Putri continued to overwhelm Sindhu on the net with her precise drop shot and levelled the scoreline at 2-2. Sindhu upped the ante to turn the tide in her favour and gained a massive six-point advantage at 9-3.
With a sublime drop shot, she kept a five-point advantage intact at the halfway mark of the second game. Putri continued to misfire as Sindhu raced to a massive 10-point advantage. With her trademark cross-court half smash, Sindhu took a step closer to wrapping up the second game and eventually achieved it with a smash on backhand to force the contest into the decider.
Putri maintained a defensive stance to counter Sindhu's aggression. In a 50-shot rally, she dealt with Sindhu efficiently but found the net and fell to a narrow 6-4 deficit. She continued to stay in the mix and brought the game level at 7-7 with a backhand shot, which caught Sindhu off guard.
The momentum oscillated like a pendulum with the duo edging past each other while scuffling for advantage. Putri eventually stole Sindhu's momentum at 11-12. She continued to build on it and sprinted out of the Indian's reach to book her place in the semifinals with a 16-21 victory in the third game. (ANI)