Malaysia Open 2025: Satwik-Chirag Stand Tall as Prannoy and Malvika Depart
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Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9 (NationPress) The men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty remained the only representatives from India as H.S. Prannoy, Malvika Bansod, and the women's doubles pair of Treesha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand faced elimination at the Malaysia Open 2025, marking the first Super 1000 tournament of the new BWF World Tour season.
Satwik and Chirag, who are medalists at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, secured India's only victory on Thursday by defeating local players Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong with a score of 21-15, 21-15 in a swift 43 minutes at the Stadium Axiata Arena in the Malaysian capital. They are set to compete against another Malaysian team, Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
In the men's singles category, world No. 26 H.S. Prannoy exited the tournament despite a valiant effort against seventh-seeded Shi Feng Li from China, as his journey came to a disappointing conclusion in a three-game match that lasted an hour and 22 minutes. Although he claimed victory in the second game and pushed the third to a tie-breaker, Prannoy ultimately lost with scores of 21-8, 15-21, 23-21.
“I was almost at the finish line tonight but it just wasn’t my day. I’m disappointed to miss out on a chance to progress further in this tournament, yet it feels good to return to this competitive level. Up next is the Indian Open,” Prannoy shared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In other match updates, Malvika Bansod concluded her Malaysia Open journey against third seed Han Yue from China. The 23-year-old started strong with a 6-2 lead but couldn't maintain the momentum, allowing Han Yue to win with scores of 21-18, 21-11.
In women's doubles, the Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited the competition after a tough battle, losing 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 to China’s Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian.
In the mixed doubles category, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto were defeated by the seventh-seeded Chinese team Zhang Chi and Cheng Xing with scores of 21-13, 22-20. Meanwhile, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath lost 21-10, 21-17 to the fourth-seeded Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai from Malaysia.
