Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag Power Through Malaysia Open First Round

PV Sindhu and the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy opened their Malaysia Open Super 1000 campaign with commanding victories, giving India a strong start to the season.

Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun 21-14, 22-20 in a 51-minute contest. She controlled the first game with ease and then fought back from 4-11 in the second to level at 13-all. Moreover, Sung pushed hard and led 17-14, but Sindhu showed resilience to equalise at 17-all. At 20-all, she sealed the last two points to secure her place in the round of 16. Sindhu now faces Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki, a former world junior champion. Furthermore, Sindhu holds a 1-1 record against Miyazaki, having beaten her in the 2025 China Masters.

Satwik and Chirag, former World No.1s and Asian Games champions, dominated Yang Po-Hsuan and Lee Jhe-Hue of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-15 in just 35 minutes. They extended their winning record to 7-0 against the pair and advanced to face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in the next round.

Meanwhile, India’s mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto exited after a 56-minute battle against Americans Presley Smith and Jennie Gai, losing 15-21, 21-18, 15-21. In addition, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out after a close three-game fight against Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. The Panda sisters, Rutuparna and Swetaparna, also suffered a straight-game defeat to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

Sindhu’s resilience and Satwik-Chirag’s dominance highlighted India’s bright start at the Malaysia Open, even as other pairs faced early exits.