Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament after a hard-fought straight-game victory over Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
Satwik and Chirag, world number one, won the title in 2022. The Asian Games winners made a strong start to the competition on Tuesday, defeating the world’s No. 12 Malaysian combination 21-13, 24-22 in 47 minutes for their fifth victory in the previous eight meetings.
Satwik and Chirag, who have come second in their last three competitions, will meet another Malaysian pair, Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee, in the following round. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, Commonwealth Games bronze medalists, advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles after defeating Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto 16-21, 21-19, 21-17 in an all-Indian opener.
The two pairs are competing to qualify for the Paris Olympics. Tanisha-Ashwini is rated 11th, and Treesa-Gayatri is ranked 14th in the Olympic Games qualification rankings.