 "Satwik-Chirag pair will face Malaysia's Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee in the second round. Image: X / @India_AllSports")
Top Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were made to sweat as they qualified for the second round of the French Open Super 750 tournament. The pair defeated Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21–13, 24-22 in 47 minutes to progress.
Satwik-Chirag pair will face Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee in the second round.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also progressed to the second round after claiming a 16-21 21-19 21-17 win over Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in an all-Indian opening match in women’s doubles.
The two pairs are fighting to qualify for the Paris Olympics. While Tanisha-Ashwini are ranked 11th, Treesa-Gayatri are placed at 14th spot in the Olympic Games qualification ranking.
Treesa and Gayatri are in red-hot form, having played a vital role in the Indian women’s side epic win at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia last month.
World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen came from behind to eke out a 15-21, 21-15, 21-3 win over Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in his opening round fixture.
The unseeded Indian will take on third seed Li Shen Feng in the pre-quarterfinal.
However, it was curtains for Priyanshu Rajawat who suffered a 8-21, 15-21 defeat at the hands of reigning Olympic champion top seed Victor Axelsen.
With PTI inputs