The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shocked the world No 3 pair of Yang Lee and Chi-Lin Wang of Chinese Taipei in a thrilling group A match of the badminton competition where the country experienced disappointment in the singles’ event on Saturday.
Chirag and Satwik, the current world No 10, notched up a stunning 21-16, 16-21, 27-25 win over third seeds Lee and Wang, who had claimed back-to-back titles at the Yonex Thailand Open, Toyota Thailand Open and BWF World Tour Finals in Thailand earlier this year.
However, 13th seeded B Sai Praneeth suffered a demoralising 17-21, 15-21 loss to world number 47 Misha Zilberman of Israel in a 41-minute men’s singles group D match.
Satwik and Chirag, who have been working under Danish coach Mathias Boe for the last few months, dished out a tactical superior game and held their nerves in the final moments to emerge victorious during the one hour and nine minute contest, which turned out to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
The Indians had five match points but the Chinese Taipei pair, the 2018 World championship Bronze-medallists, saved all of them before grabbing one themselves but Chirag and Satwik were up to the task and had the last laugh.
Satwik and Chirag will next play Indonesian world No 1s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo on Sunday.