HONG KONG: India’s top men’s doubles duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, kicked off their Hong Kong Open Super 500 campaign with a win on Tuesday, while Kiran George battled through the qualifiers to secure a spot in the men’s singles main draw.
Satwik and Chirag, fresh from claiming their second World Championships bronze in Paris, defeated Taiwan’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in the opening round. The former world No. 1 pair started strong, allowed their opponents to force a decider, but regained control in the third game with their signature net play and powerful smashes.
The eighth-seeded Indians will next face the winners of the clash between Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi/Hiroki Okamura and Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun/Pakkapon Teeraratsakul.
In men’s singles, Kiran George earned his main draw berth with consecutive wins in the qualifiers. He first defeated Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei 21-14, 21-13, before overcoming compatriot S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian 21-18, 21-14. Sankar had earlier beaten England’s Wang Yue Hang 21-10, 21-5 in the opening round. World No. 38 Kiran will next face Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh.
The biggest upset of the day came from Tharun Mannepalli, who ousted former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 21-13 in the first round of qualifying. The 20-year-old, however, could not maintain his momentum and lost 21-23, 13-21, 18-21 to Malaysia’s fourth seed Justin Hoh in the subsequent match.
