Satwik and Chirag Progress in Australian Open Badminton; Jolly and Gopichand Exit

Satwik-Chirag Move to Second Round

The Asian Games champions, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, have successfully advanced to the second round of the men's doubles at the 2025 Australian Open badminton tournament held in Sydney. They achieved this by defeating the duo from Chinese Taipei, Chang Ko-Chi and Po Li-Wei.

As the top seeds in this BWF Super 500 event, the Indian pair secured a victory with scores of 25-23 and 21-16 in their round of 32 match, which lasted 48 minutes, according to reports from Olympics.com.

Initially, the Indian players struggled, falling behind 6-2 in the first game. However, they quickly rallied, scoring four consecutive points to level the match. Despite facing another setback at 9-7, they fought back to tie the game again at 9-9 and later at 16-16.

The tension escalated at 19-19, but the top seeds demonstrated their resilience by saving three game points before clinching the first game. The second game mirrored the first, with Chirag and Satwik establishing a 7-4 lead, only for the Chinese Taipei pair to equalize at 8-8 and briefly lead at 10-8. The Indian duo then surged ahead, scoring six consecutive points to take a four-point lead.

Jolly-Gopichand Team Eliminated

In contrast, India's leading women's doubles team, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, faced a challenging return to the BWF World Tour after a hiatus since July. The fourth-seeded pair, currently ranked 14th globally, was outperformed by Indonesia's world No. 83 team, Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, losing in straight sets with scores of 21-10 and 21-14 in a match that lasted 40 minutes.

Men's Singles Action Kicks Off Wednesday

The men's singles competition will commence on Wednesday, featuring world championship medallists Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, and Kidambi Srikanth, along with promising newcomer Ayush Shetty.