In the ongoing tournament in Thailand, the mixed doubles team, Satwik-Ashwini made it to the semifinals while PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma crashed out.
The mixed doubles team Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa won a hard-fought battle and entered the semifinals of Thailand Open BWF Super-1000 tournament in Thailand on Friday. It was a tough fight against Olympic silver medalists Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia 18-21, 24-22, 22-20 while PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma crashed out of the tournament.
Sindhu had reached the quarterfinals after defeating two lower ranked opponents but faced former world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the quarterfinals and lost to her 13-21, 9-21. In the first game, Sindhu toiled to score 13-13 but the Thai player took the lead and scored eight straight points to win the game. Meanwhile, Sameer, in the men's single category, lost to Denmark's Anders Antonsen 21-13, 19-21, 22-20.
In the semifinals, the duo will face Thailand's top players Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai on Saturday. After the match, complimenting her partner for taking charge and not losing nerves, Ashwini said, "In the third game, I feel like Satwik held his nerves. Mine were all over the place. But he took charge and dealt with the situation way better. I was a little too excited, a little bit eager, so I ended up making a lot of easy mistakes. But the good thing was he held his ground and that was the biggest factor for the match in terms of our partnership. He played really well and when he was needed he was a star," she told the BWF website.
The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.