BWF World Championships: Men's Doubles Pair Of Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Enters Semi-Finals, Assured Of Atleast Bronze

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Friday became the first Indian pair to win a medal in the men's doubles competition at the World Championships but HS Prannoy's impressive run ended in agony as he went down narrowly in the men's singles quarterfinals. Satwik and Chirag, the world number 7 combination, which had claimed the Commonwealth Games gold medal earlier this month, stunned the local favourites and defending champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 24-22 15-21 21-14 in an hour and 15 minutes to claim its maiden medal at the prestigious tournament.

It is India's second World Championships medal in the doubles event with Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claiming a bronze way back in 2011 in the women's doubles.

Overall, it's India's 13th medal at the showpiece with PV Sindhu winning five, including a gold in 2019, and Saina Nehwal (silver and bronze) claiming two. Kidambi Srikanth (silver), Lakshya Sen (bronze), B Sai Praneeth (bronze) and Prakash Padukone (bronze) were the other medallists.

It could have been double delight for the country but China's Zhao Jun Peng had other plans as he broke Indian hearts with a 19-21 21-6 21-18 win over former world number 8 Prannoy, who went down on one knee with his head hanging in disappointment after the gut-wrenching loss.

Earlier, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila's fine run also ended after the Indian pair lost 8-21 14-21 to three-time champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in another men's doubles quarterfinals.

Having assured themselves of at least a bronze, Satwik and Chirag will now face the sixth seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the semifinals.

Satwik and Chirag came out with a lot of intent as they dominated the proceedings early on to