World Junior Badminton Championships 2022: India's Sankar Muthusamy enters final

Bengaluru, October 29: India's Sankar Muthusamy is withing striking distance of clinching the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Junior Badminton Championships after reaching the final in Santander, Spain on Saturday (October 29).

In the semifinals on Saturday, Sankar beat Thailand's Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul 21-13, 21-15 to assure himself of at least a silver medal as he reached the title clash.

In the process, Sankar becomes just the fourth Indian after Aparna Popat, Saina Nehwal and Siril Verma to reach the BWF World Junior Championships final.

With a BWF wod ranking of No.4, Sankar is the highest-ranked in Indian men's singles player in the tournament.

Earlier he recorded a convincing 21-4 21-5 win over Spain's Basilio Porto in the round of 32 and followed it up with a gritty win over Thailand's Nachakorn Pusri in the round-of-16.

But his most-impressive win came in the quarterfinals where he beat China's Hu Zhen An 21-18, 8-21, 21-16 in a tough three-game battle.

For the records, the last Indian to win a medal (bronze) at the BWF) World Junior Badminton Championships was Lakshya Sen in 2018.

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won a gold (in 2008).

French Open 2022 Badminton: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty storm into the final

It was double for India on a day as the senior men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their dream run in the French Open Super 750 Series badminton tournament by entering the final.

The Indian duo comfortably made it to the title clash, beating South Korea's Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho 21-18, 21-14 in the semifinals which lasted 45 minutes in Paris on Saturday.

For Satwiksairaj and Chirag, it is their second final of a BWF World Tour event in 2022. It may be recalled that the Indian duo had won the India Open Super 500 tournament in January earlier this year.

As the French Open 2022 badminton tournament reaches its business end Satwiksairaj and Chirag are the only Indians left in the tournament.