Lagatar24 Desk
Tokyo, Aug 26: Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty, the top-ranked men’s doubles team from India, defeated the world-ranked Japanese team of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals on Friday, ensuring themselves of their first medal at the World Championships.
The world number 7 Indian team, which earlier this month won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, put on a tenacious display to defeat the local favourites and defending champions 24-22 15-21 21-14 in an hour and fifteen minutes and win India its first-ever men’s doubles medal at the prestigious competition.
It was India’s second doubles medal at the World Championships; the country’s first came in the women’s doubles category in 2011 with Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.
Earlier, the impressive run of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila came to an end as the Indian team lost in the men’s doubles quarterfinals to three-time gold medalists Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
The third-seeded Indonesian pair defeated the unseeded Indian combination 8-21, 14-21 in less than 30 minutes, putting an end to their season despite this week’s spectacular victories. The eighth-seeded Danes, Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, were upset by the Indians in the second round.
