Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty enters BWF World Junior Championships final

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the men's doubles final of the French Open Super 750 badminton competition on Saturday with a dominant straight-game win over Korean duo Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho.

The world number 8 Indian pair played an attacking game and controlled the net well to defeat the 18th-ranked Korean combination, 21-18 21-14, in the 45-minute semifinals. The Indian pair reached their second final of a BWF global tour event in 2022, having won the India Open Super 500 tournament earlier this year.

Satwik and Chirag, who won bronze at the World Championships in August, will face the winner of the other semifinal, which will be played between England's Ben Lane and Sean Vendy and Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.

Chirag was relentless at the front court, while Satwik unleashed his booming smashes from the back court, as the Indians put up a polished performance at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.

The Indians launched an all-out attack and led 2-0 early on, and despite the Koreans clawing back at 7-7, Satwik and Chirag ensured they were four points clear at the half-time break.

Following the break, the Koreans temporarily attempted to control the pace of the rallies, with their returns becoming higher. They were soon up 16-13, but an attentive Chirag made a crisp response to maintain them ahead.

With the Indians striking the net and leaving the court on several occasions, the Koreans cut the score to 18-19, but Choi then committed an unforced error, giving their opponents two game points. Chirag then finished the first game with a crisp smash.

The Indian combination continued with their aggressive game plan in the second game which saw some good rallies early on. After 3-3, Satwik and Chirag moved to a 7-4 lead. The Koreans, however, rallied their way back to 9-10 after a slew of exchanges but Chirag unleashed a smash to give themselves a two-point cushion at the interval.

Two net errors from Korea took the Indian pair to 18-12. A deceptive return-to-serve gave the Koreans one more point but Chirag responded with a body return.

Choi then hit wide to hand six match points to the Indians and Chirag sealed it with a smash and raised his arm even as his partner Satwik broke into a dance.

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