New Delhi [India], August 20 (ANI): India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought back from difficult positions to beat Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 in the men's doubles at the New Delhi World Championships 2026 on Thursday.
The Indian pair needed one hour and 22 minutes to complete the hard-fought victory and secure their place in the quarterfinals.
Satwik and Chirag looked unsettled early on as they struggled to read the drift in the stadium, having entered the tournament after receiving a couple of walkovers.
They faced a three-point deficit at the change of ends in the deciding game, trailing 8-11. The Malaysian pair extended their advantage to 15-12, leaving the Indian duo under pressure.
However, Satwik and Chirag showed resilience to turn the contest around and eventually close out the deciding game 21-17, sparking loud celebrations among the home crowd.
The victory came after Indian shuttlers Ayush Shetty and PV Sindhu suffered contrasting defeats earlier in the day.
With the win, Satwik and Chirag joined Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand as the only Indian pairs to reach the quarterfinals of the New Delhi World Championships 2026.
Earlier, India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu bowed out of the BWF World Championships 2026 after suffering a hard-fought defeat to China's Wang Zhi Yi in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday, bringing the host nation's singles campaign at the tournament to an end.
The five-time World Championships medallist went down 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 to the World No. 2 in an absorbing 88-minute contest at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, despite a vociferous home crowd backing the two-time Olympic medallist throughout.
The defeat ended Sindhu's hopes of winning a historic sixth World Championships medal and also brought an end to her perfect record against Chinese opponents at the tournament. Before Thursday, Sindhu had won all eight of her World Championships meetings against players from China.
Earlier in the day, India's Ayush Shetty also bowed out in the men's singles Round of 16, losing 19-21, 11-21 to Indonesia's Alwi Farhan. Ayush, who had stunned World No. 1 Shi Yuqi in the previous round, fought back from 14-18 down to lead 19-18 in the opening game but failed to close it out. Alwi then dominated the second game to seal victory in around 45 minutes.
Lakshya Sen and Unnati Hooda had also been eliminated in the second round on Wednesday, bringing India's singles challenge to a close at the home World Championships. There was, however, some cheer for the hosts as women's doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the quarterfinals with a 21-16, 21-12 win over Japan's seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.
The world No. 39 Indian pair, returning to competition following Treesa's injury, are now one win away from securing a World Championships medal. Mixed doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, however, were knocked out earlier on Thursday after losing 16-21, 5-21 to China's Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui in the Round of 16. (ANI)
Satwik-Chirag battle past Malaysia's Arif-Yap to reach BWF World Championships quarterfinals
