Singapore Open 2025: Satwik-Chirag Reach Quarters; PV Sindhu Faces Early Exit

The Indian men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals, while former world champion PV Sindhu faced an early exit at the Singapore Open badminton tournament on Thursday.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag mounted a comeback to defeat the seventh-seeded Indonesian pair of Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani 19-21, 21-16, 21-19 in a challenging match that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.

They will compete against the second-seeded Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in the next round.

This performance by the Indian team is notable, especially since they have been recovering from fitness issues over the past few weeks.

Double Olympic medalist Sindhu lost to world No. 5 Chen Yufei of China 9-21, 21-18, 16-21 in a tough second-round match that lasted 65 minutes.

Sindhu, who recently dropped to world No. 17, displayed flashes of her old form, particularly in the second game where she led 19-12 before winning it 21-18.

However, in the deciding game, she struggled to counter Chen’s sharp smashes and court control.

This defeat marks Sindhu’s seventh loss to Chen in 13 encounters, underscoring her inconsistency this season.

Despite a strong 21-14, 21-9 win over Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang in the first round, the 2022 Singapore Open champion failed to maintain her momentum.

Though Sindhu showed moments of brilliance, her sluggish reflexes and lack of control during rallies allowed the Chinese player to dominate the final set.

In the men’s singles competition, H S Prannoy was eliminated after a 16-21, 14-21 loss to France’s Christo Popov in the pre-quarterfinals.

The eighth-seeded Indian women’s doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited after an 8-21, 10-21 defeat to the Chinese pair of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the second round.

In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were unable to overcome Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet, losing 10-21, 16-21 in 31 minutes.

(with agency inputs)