2 min readMar 13, 2026 08:46 AM IST
The official BWF progress chart for the decider between Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Hiroki Okamura and Kyohei Yamashita, which indicates how a certain game ebbs and flows, said its own story. After 13-13 in Game 3, neither pair could hold a two-point lead as serves kept getting broken, and the thrill kept escalating. Eventually, the top seeds from India came through an epic battle against the scratch Japanese pairing to reach the quarterfinals at the Swiss Open in Basel on Thursday. The Indians won 21-15, 15-21, 28-26 in a 74-minute thriller.
Also reaching the quarterfinals was Tharun Mannepalli in men’s singles, as he overcame Justin Hoh of Malaysia 21-14, 22-20 in a 43-minute clash. Tharun comfortably took the opener, going on a good run from 14-13 to win seven out of the next points. The second game too saw Tharun open up a handy 13-7 lead but Justin, who is ranked five places above the Indian, caught up. Eventually, Tharun had to save a game point at 19-20 before sealing the deal in straight games.
On Friday, Satwik-Chirag will be up against Christian Kjaer and Rasmus Kjaer of Denmark in what will be the first meeting between the pairs while Tharun faces Indonesian legend Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Earlier, Kiran George bowed out in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals after losing to Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan. George, who had beaten former World Champion Loh Kean Yew in the opening round, squandered leads in both Games 1 and 2 to lose 18-21, 21-16, 16-21 in a 70-minute clash. In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila bowed out in the round of 16 after 15-21, 17-21 defeat against China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying.
India’s men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun also lost in the pre-quarterfinals, bowing out to Chen Cheng Kuan and Lin Bing-Wei of Chinese Taipei 17-21, 11-21 in 32 minutes. Late on Wednesday, in women’s singles, Malvika Bansod failed to get past Thailand’s world No. 4 Pornpawee Chochuwong, going down 11-21 15-21 in a lop-sided contest. It was her fourth defeat in as many meetings against the Thai player.
