Thailand Open 2024: Meiraba, Satwik-Chirag and Ashwini-Tanisha advance to quarter-finals in Bangkok

Meiraba Luwang Maisnam and star pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their superb run in the ongoing BWF Thailand Open Super 500, advancing to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles and doubles events respectively in Bangkok on Thursday.

Meiraba, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, defeated Denmark’s Mads Christophersen 21-14 22-20 in a second-round battle that lasted 50 minutes a day after he stunned compatriot HS Prannoy.

The 21-year-old, who had won the Iran Fajr International and India International in 2022, is in for a tough battle in the quarters where he is up against world champion and local hero Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

As for Satwik and Chirag, the world number 3 Indian pair defeated the 69th-ranked Chinese pair Xie Hao Nan and Zeng Wei Han 21-16 21-11 in their second round match. The Asian Games gold medallists are up against Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in the last-eight section of the event.

Olympic-bound women’s pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Chinese Taipei’s Hung En-Tzu and Lin Yu-Pei 21-19 21-17 to also reach the quarter-finals. The fourth-seeded Indian combination will meet sixth seeds Lee Yu Lim and Shin Seung Chan of Taipei next.

Meiraba, Satwik/Chirag & Tanisha/Ashwini advanced to last-8️⃣!#ThailandOpen2024#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/W0mHWwKbNa

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) May 16, 2024

Among other Indians, Ashmita Chaliha’s gruelling fight ended in a narrow loss as she went down 15-21 21-12 12-21 to top seeded Chinese Han Yue in women’s singles.

In mixed doubles, Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath lost 10-21 17-21 to Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari to bow out of the competition.

Panda sisters — Rutaparna and Swetaparna — failed to cross the second round, losing 16-21 13-21 to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi.

With PTI inputs