NEW DELHI: Top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave a walkover to Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer and Christian Faust Kjaer in the men’s doubles quarter-finals of the $250,000 Swiss Open in Basel on Friday.
The world No. 4 Indian pair withdrew after Rankireddy’s old right shoulder injury flared up before the last eight clash at the Super 300 competition.
“Satwik had shoulder pain before the match which is why we decided to pull out. It is an old injury. He needs at least one week’s rest before the Asia Championships,” their coach Tan Kim Her told HT from Basel.
The $550,000 Badminton Asia Championships will be held from April 7-12 in Ningbo, China. Rankireddy and Shetty are the only Indian pair/player after Dinesh Khanna (1965) to have won the continental title in 2023.
Seeded No.1, it was a solid chance for Rankireddy and Shetty to end their title drought, having last won a tournament 22 months ago. Though they reached two finals and won a World Championships bronze last year, they are yet to stand on the top step of the podium since winning the Thailand Open in May 2024.
Rankireddy’s injury could have aggravated after the second-round win against Japan’s Hiroki Okamura and Kyohei Yamashita where the Indian pair had to work hard before converting their seventh match point at St. Jakobshalle.
Tharun Mannepalli is the only Indian left alive in the tournament. He will take on Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the men’s singles quarter-final later in the day.
Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto had lost their mixed doubles second round 15-21, 17-21 to China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying late on Thursday.
