Satwik-Chirag Reach First Final of the Year Finish Runners-Up in Hong Kong Open

By Abhishek Kumar

In Hong Kong Open Super 500 India’s men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty finally broke the semifinal hurdle and entered their first final of the year.

In the semifinal on Saturday Satwik-Chirag defeated Chinese Taipei pair Lin Bing-Wei and Chen Cheng-Kuan in straight games 21-17, 21-15. After many semifinal exits this year the win gave the Indian pair a much-needed breakthrough. Chirag said after the win Final finally We have been stuck in semis and really wanted to make the final.

On Sunday in the title clash Satwik-Chirag started well against Chinese pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang and took the first game 21-19. But after that the Chinese duo came back strongly. They won the next two games 21-14 21-17 to seal the match in just over one hour. With this result Satwik and Chirag had to settle for the runner-up finish but their performance showed improvement and consistency. The final appearance is expected to boost their confidence for the upcoming international tournaments