Beijing
Satwik and Chirag played their hearts out to get the better of the Japanese opponents 21-18, 21-23, 21-11 in a pulsating second round contest that lasted an hour and six minutes. For the Indian duo, which had reached the French Open final last month, the latest win is its second straight over Endo and Watanabe. The Indians had defeated the Japanese combination in straight games in Paris.
They will face Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the last eight stage on Friday. Satwik and Chirag are the lone Indians left in the tournament after the others bite the dust on Thursday. Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth were both ousted in the second round of the men’s singles event.
World No. 11 Praneeth fought hard for an hour and 24 minutes against fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark before going down 22-20, 20-22, 16-21. Kashyap, ranked 25th in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against Victor Axelsen (Denmark). He suffered a 13-21, 19-21 defeat in a match that went on for 43 minutes.
This is Kashyap’s second successive loss against Axelsen this year. The former Commonwealth Games champion had gone down to the World No.6 at the India Open in March. It was also the end of the road for the mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa. The unseeded Indian duo lost 21-23, 16-21 to fifth seeds Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung of South Korea.
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