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This was Satwikshairaj Rankiridi and Chirag Shetty’s first victory over the Chinese duo after two previous defeats. (file)
In a powerful display of power hitting with dexterous placement, Satwikshairaj Rankiridi and Chirag Shetty scored their first victory over China’s Liang Wei Qing’s Wang Zhang in three meetings, to win the semi-finals of the Korea Open. The Indians will play top-seeded Fajjar Alfian and Mohamed-Ryan Ardianto in the final – their fourth in the year after the Swiss Open, Asian Championship and Indonesia Open, all of which they’ve won. The world’s No. 3 Indians are on a 9-game winning streak and are looking to win back-to-back titles in Yeosu, Korea after the Super 1000 in Jakarta.
While all the talk was about how hard the Indians hit—and hit them hard—Saturday was about wreaking havoc on the Chinese with midfield cross-blows. The Chinese have racked up 27 wins from 34 matches this year including the Thailand Open and India titles, but they had few answers to the Indian attack that day. Their previous two All England second round and Malaysia semi-final matches went to three sets but the Indians were absolutely dominant in their 21-15 and 24-22 wins in 40 minutes.
“It was a close All-England game too (21-19 in the third), but Chirag-Satwick has improved a lot now, he’s more mature,” said Paulella Gopichand, who was in the coach’s chair that day. He added, “They play to each other’s strengths and hit harder than anyone else.” (read more)
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