Asian Games champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the second round of the Hong Kong Open 2025 men’s doubles badminton event with a hard-fought win on Tuesday.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, was stunned in the qualifying round of the men’s singles at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
World No. 9 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won their second World Championships bronze medal in Paris last month, overcame the 17th-ranked Chinese Taipei pair of Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in 59 minutes.
The Indian badminton players will take on the winner of the match between Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura and Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in the round of 16.
Kidambi Srikanth, a World Championships silver medallist, went down to compatriot Tharun Mannepalli 28-26, 13-21, 21-18 in an all-Indian clash. Tharun Mannepalli later went down to Jun Hoh of Malaysia 23-21, 13-21, 21-18 in the second round of the qualifiers.
Other Indians in action included Kiran George, who beat Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei and compatriot Sankar Subramanian in the qualifiers to reach the main draw of the BWF Super 500 tournament.
Paris 2024 Olympians Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will start their campaigns on Wednesday.
Only two Indians have ever won the Hong Kong Open. Prakash Padukone won the inaugural men’s singles title in 1982 while Saina Nehwal took the women’s crown back in 2010.
Hong Kong Open 2025: Indian results on Day 1
- Men’s singles qualification round of 16: Tharun Mannepalli bt Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 13-21, 21-18
- Men’s singles qualification round of 16: Kiran George bt Cheam June Wei (MAS) 14-21, 21-13, 21-13
- Men’s singles qualification round of 16: Sankar Subramanian bt Wang Yuehan (ENG) 21-10, 21-5
- Men’s singles qualification quarter-finals: Tharun Mannepalli lost to Jun Hoh (MAS) 23-21, 13-21, 21-18
- Men’s Singles qualification quarter-finals: Kiran George bt Sankar Subramanian 21-18, 21-14
- Men’s doubles round of 32: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt Chiu Hsiang Chieh/Wang Chi-Lin (TPE) 21-13, 18-21, 21-10