Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semi-finals of the Korea Open 2023 badminton tournament at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu on Friday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, third seeds and world No. 3 in the badminton rankings, beat former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-14, 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 500 tournament.
It was the Indian team’s fourth win over the former world No. 1 Japanese pair, seeded fifth at the Korea Open, in five meetings.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will play second seeds and world No. 2 duo Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of the Republic of China in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Results at the Korea Open count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year.