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The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has reached the final of Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament. The Indian pair defeated Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Noor Izzuddin 19-21, 22-20, 21-16 in the semi-finals that lasted 82 minutes on Saturday (May 16). Satwik-Chirag have won Thailand Open in 2019 and 2024. He will play the third final. He will face the challenge from Indonesia’s Leo Roli Carnando and Daniel Martin.

Chirag said after the victory, ‘Feeling good. We did not start the year that well and due to not having a good start, we were not mentally strong. He further said, ‘As players we really wanted answers. Ultimately, the bronze medal in the Thomas Cup boosted our confidence a lot and now we are playing our first final of the year here. Hopefully we will take this title.

Satwik-Chirag were in discussion regarding their statements

Satwik and Chirag were recently in the news for their statement about badminton not getting preference and appreciation in India even after winning bronze in the Thomas Cup in Denmark. However, he kept aside the external noise and entered the finals with a brilliant performance. Their record against the Malaysian pair was 7-2 but Goh and Izzuddin had defeated them in the India Open Super 750 tournament last year.

Satwik-Chirag dominated in the decisive game

The Malaysian pair started well and took a 3-1 lead but Satwik and Chirag leveled the score at 5-5. In the first game, the Malaysian pair took an 11-8 lead at the break. Due to Chirag’s mistake the shuttle went into the net and the difference increased. The Malaysian pair won the first game 21-19. After this, in the second game the match was equal and the score became 6-6 from 3-3. The Indian pair took a lead of 9-6 but after one of Chirag’s returns the shuttle went into the net, the lead was reduced to 10-9. After the break the score again became 13-13.

Chirag gave India a lead of 16-14 but then the score became 16-16 after going into the return net. The Indian pair then took the lead 19-16 and at one point the score was 20-20, when the Indian pair won the game when Izzuddin’s shot went wide. The Indian pair dominated the deciding game and the Malaysian pair could not make a comeback.