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Star Indian men’s duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty failed to secure their spot in the final of the Malaysia Open 2025. The Indian shuttler pair lost their semifinals against South Korea's Won Ho Kim and Seung Jae Seo. The World No. 9 pair lost to their counterparts with a margin of 10-21, 15-21 and couldn’t pave their way to the summit clash of the Super 1000 tournament on Saturday, January 11 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier, on Friday, Sat-Chi secured a gritty win over the Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo duo of Malaysia in a hard-fought battle. They took down the Malaysian pair 26-24, 21-15 in a 49-minute long battle. The Indian pair was slow right from the beginning and trailed 6-11 in the opening game of the clash. The Koreans single-handedly dominated the court and stole the first game 21-10 within 19 minutes. Things got a bit easier for the Indian duo in the second game as they led 11-8 at the halfway point. However, their lead was short-lived as they went down 15-21, eventually.
Satwik-Chirag to represent India at Yonex Sunrise India Open
The Olympian duo will now be in action at the Yonex Sunrise India Open, which is scheduled to begin on January 14. They will be up against Malaysia’s Wei Chong Man and Kai Wun Tee in the round of 32. Talking about their campaign in the Malaysia Open, Satwik and Chirag took down the Taiwanese pair of Tang Kai-Wei and Lu Ming-che, before they won the second-round battle against Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong from Malaysia.
It is to be noted that Satwik and Chirag were the lone Indian pair in contention at the elite tournament after stars like Lakshya Sen, H.S. Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, Malvika Bansod, Akarshi Kashyap, Anupama Upadhyayay and Tresha Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand were ousted in the first two rounds.