Thailand Open 2024: Satwik-Chirag Ease Into The Men's Doubles Final; Ashwini-Tanisha Lose Semi-Finals

Add as a preferred source on Google

India's top doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty eased into the Thailand Open 2024 final following straight games victory over Chinese Taipei's Lu Ming-Che and Tang Kai-Wei on Saturday (May 18).

The top seeds Satwik-Chirag defeated the Chinese Taipei duo by a scoreline of 21-11, 21-12 in the men's doubles semi-final match that lasted for just 35 minutes on Court 1 at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Satwik and Chirag have a deep relation with Thailand as it was here five years back in 2019 that they had won their maiden super 500 crown. On Saturday, the Indian pair inched closer to regaining the title after reaching the summit clash again.

The Olympics-bound Indian duo will aim for their second title on the BWF World Tour this season when they next face Chen Boyang and Liu Yi of China in the title clash on Sunday (May 19).

The Chinese duo, who had won the Orleans Masters and China Masters in 2023, reached their first summit clash of the year on the BWF Tour following a hard-fought straight games 21-19, 21-18 win over the South Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang.

Shetty and Rankireddy could have been joined by another Indian pair in the Thailand Open in the form of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, but the duo lost the women's doubles semi-final later on Saturday (May 18).

Tanisha-Ashwini pair, who are also headed to Paris for the Olympics later this year, went down fighting to top seeds and Thailand's own Jongkolphan Kititharakul & Rawinda Prajongjai by a scoreline of 12-21, 20-22 in the last four clash that lasted 43 minutes on court 1.

Earlier on Friday (May 17), a dream run came to an end for Meiraba Luwang Maisnam in the men's singles competition after he suffered a straight games loss in the quarterfinal round.

The 21-year-old Meiraba, who ousted compatriot HS Prannoy in the opening round, suffered a 12-21, 5-21 loss in a lopsided contest against fourth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the last eight match that lasted 34 minutes on Court 4.

The other singles competitors from India making early exits from the tournament were Akarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod, Kiran George, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Unnati Hooda and Ashmita Chaliha.