Indian shuttlers experienced a mixed outing at the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday, with star doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowing out in the quarterfinals, while Lakshya Sen and Tharun Mannepalli progressed to the men’s singles semifinals with impressive wins.
The World No. 3 pair of Satwik and Chirag, touted as strong medal contenders, suffered a surprise straight-games defeat to the unseeded Malaysian duo of Choong Hon Jian and Haikal Muhammad. The Indians were unable to find their rhythm and fell behind early in both games, eventually losing 14-21, 17-21 in a disappointing exit.
In contrast, Lakshya continued his solid run with a hard-earned 18-21, 21-14, 21-17 victory over China’s Xuan Chen Zhu. The second seed and 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist was pushed to the limit by the world No. 77 but showed resilience and composure to come through in just over an hour.
After losing the opening game, Lakshya, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, upped the intensity with sharp smashes and better control at the net. In the decider, he raced to a 7-1 lead and despite some resistance from Chen, held firm to book a semifinal clash against Indonesia’s fifth seed Alwi Farhan.
Joining him in the final four is 23-year-old Tharun Mannepalli, who extended his spectacular run with a gritty 21-12, 13-21, 21-18 win over China’s Hu Zhe. Currently ranked No. 47 in the world, Tharun needed 75 minutes to overcome the world No. 87 in what marks his first-ever BWF Super 300 semifinal appearance.
The match was a rollercoaster, with Tharun dominating the opener, before Hu mounted a superb comeback in the second. The decider was equally tense as Tharun instantly surged to a 5-0 lead before the Chinese came back strongly, but the Indian eventually held his nerve in the closing stages, sealing the win with a deft push to the backhand corner.
Tharun, who had earlier caused a major upset by eliminating top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the Round of 16, will be up against Malaysia’s Justin Hot in the semifinal on Saturday.