Indonesia Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty storm into semis

The Indian men's pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Friday entered the semi-finals of the ongoing Indonesia Open.

The Indian duo defeated the team of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin from Malaysia by 21-19, 21-19 in a closely contested battle at Court 2 in 43 minutes.

The Malaysian duo quickly went off the blocks as they headed into the first mid-game interval with an 11-6 advantage. But Rankireddy-Shetty rallied and clinched the first game after leveling it on 19-19.

The second game played out the same way as the earlier one. Fei and Izzuddin went into mid-game interval with a thin 11-10 lead. Indians then came back stronger and gained a healthy 18-13 lead. But the Malaysian pair showed their extreme composure to level the match at 19-19. In the end, Indian shuttlers held their nerves to clinch the game and match by winning two points straight.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will now clash with Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon of Indonesia for a place in the final.

Earlier in the day, the two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu rallied back to defeat South Korea's Sim Yujin by 14-21, 21-19, 21-14 in a titanic 1 hour and 6 minutes match.

( With inputs from ANI )