Thailand Open 2024 Semifinals Highlights: India's Satwik-Chirag, Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia advance to final

Hello and welcome to Khel Now’s live blog for the Thailand Open 2024 semifinals. Please wait for the blog to load.

Thailand Open 2024 Semifinals Schedule

Court 1

WS: Supanida Katethong vs Wang Zhiyi

XD: Guo Xin Wa/Chen Fang Hui vs Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha HaningtyasMentari

WS: Han Yue vs Pornpawee Chochuwong

MD: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Ming Che Lu/Tang Kai Wei

MS: NG Ka Long Angus vs Kunlavut Vitidsarn

WD: Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi vs Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi

MS: Lee Zii Jia vs Chou Tien Chen

WD: Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai vs Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa

Court 2

XD: Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai vs Ruttanapak Oupthong/Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat

MD: Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi vs Kim Gi Jung/Kim Sa Rang

Trending Indian Sports articles

• Top 10 most followed sports in India in 2024
• Can Indian boxers still qualify for Paris Olympics 2024 after disappointment at 1st World boxing Qualifiers?
• What are the qualification marks of all Track & Field events for Paris Olympics 2024?
• List of Indian athletes to have secured qualification for Paris Olympics 2024

Indian doubles pairs advance to semis

Indian top-ranked doubles shuttlers continued their strong run at the Thailand Open 2024 on Friday, with the men’s duo of Satwik-Chirag and women’s doubles pair Ashwini-Tanisha advancing to the semifinals after hard-fought victories.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded first in the men’s doubles event, defeated Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in straight games 21-7, 21-14 to book their place in the last four. The world No. #3 Indian pair were simply too superior for the 64th-ranked Malaysians in their quarter-final match.

Rankireddy and Shetty outclassed their opponents from the start, racing to a 9-2 lead in the opening game. The Malaysians had no answers to the Indians’ aggressive net play and superb stroke-making. The Indian pair wrapped up the first game 21-7 without breaking a sweat.

In the second game, Arif and Yap put up a better fight initially, staying level till 5-5. But the Indian top seeds raised their game again, going on a 10-3 run to open up a 15-8 lead. From there, they did not look back, closing out the game 21-14.

In women’s doubles, the fourth-seeded Indian duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto prevailed over sixth seeds Lee Yu Lim and Shin Seung Chan of South Korea in a grueling three-game battle that lasted an hour and 16 minutes.

Ponnappa and Crasto took the opening game 21-15 after both pairs were locked at 8-8 initially. The Indians finished strongly to pocket the first game. In the second game, the Koreans fought back to level the match, edging ahead in a close final stage to take it 23-21.

The decider was an epic tussle with both teams trading body blows. Neither could break away decisively until 19-19 when the Indians raised their level under pressure. A couple of sensational winners from Crasto gave them match point, which they converted to win 21-19.

However, it was the end of the road for Meiraba Luwang Maisnam in the men’s singles quarterfinals after a 12-21, 5-21 loss to home favourite and world No. #8 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. The 23-year-old Indian started brightly but was blown away by Vitidsarn’s aggression and shot-making abilities. Earlier in the tournament, Maisnam had scored an upset win over fifth seed H.S. Prannoy.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Rankireddy and Shetty will face a tough test against Ming Che Lu and Tang Kai-Wei of Chinese Taipei, while Ponnappa and Crasto take on the top-seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram