Satwik-Chirag reach BWF World Championships semifinals, assure themselves of a medal

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty avenged their Paris Olympics quarterfinals loss at the hands of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh by defeating the Malaysian pair 21-12, 21-19 in the last-eight round of the BWF World Championships in Paris.

The victory on Friday assured the Indian pair of a medal — its second at the World Championships. Rankireddy and Shetty had won a bronze at the 2022 Worlds in Tokyo. Coincidentally, they were beaten by the same Malaysian pair in the semifinals in that tournament.

Their medal also ensured India’s streak of winning a medal at every BWF World Championships since 2011 remained intact.

The World No. 9 pair got off to a strong start as it won points off long, flat rallies and raced away to an 11-6 lead. The advantage proved too steep to overcome for Soh and Chia as the Indians claimed the opening game 21-12.

The second game played out to the Indians’ strength where they attacked and forced the Malaysians to play from the back of their court. Soh struggled in particular, with his back hand hitting the net on multiple occasions.

Soh and Chia, however, countered after the mid-game interval. With the Indians leading 17-11, the Malaysian pair once again opted for flat exchanges and won points from close to the net. This allowed them to claw back and level the score at 19-19.

But the Indians thwarted the comeback and won the crucial deciding points, securing only their fourth win over the Malaysian team in 15 meetings.

Satwik and Chirag will now take on World No. 11 Li Yiu and Bo Yang Chen of China in their semfinal on Saturday.

Published on Aug 30, 2025