Tokyo: Young doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy displayed unrelenting will and stamina as he played four qualifying round matches to make it to the main draw of both men’s and mixed doubles events at the Japan Super Series here Tuesday.
The 17-year-old from Andhra Pradesh paired up with Chirag Shetty to edge past Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Hiroyuki Saeki 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in the opening round and then defeated another local combination of Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi 21-18, 21-12 to qualify for the main draw.
In the main draw they will face Wednesday the third-seeded Indonesian combo of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Satwik also paired up with Ashwini Ponnappa to beat Japanese combo of Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 21-13, 21-15 and then the Indian combo notched up a 21-18, 21-9 win over Hiroki Okamura and Naru Shinoya 21-18, 21-9 to enter the main draw of mixed doubles event. They will take on Thailand’s Tinn Isriyanet and Pacharapun Chochuwong.
However, it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap in the men’s singles qualifying round. The 31-year-old from Hyderabad defeated Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-15, 21-14 in the opening round before going down narrowly to Japan’s Yu Igarashi 11-21, 21-18, 14-21 to crash out of the event.
In the main draw of mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy overcame Japan’s Tomoya Takashina and Rie Etoh 21-19, 17-21, 21-15 to advance to the second round here.
Press Trust of India
