Satwik-Chirag advance at Indonesia Masters with straight-games victory

India's accomplished pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round with a commanding 21-16, 21-15 victory over Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh from Chinese Taipei at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Wednesday.
The Asian Games gold medallists, fresh from their consecutive semifinal appearances at Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 in the previous fortnight, will next compete against Thailand's Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh.
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Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila also made a successful start in the mixed doubles category, securing victory against Indonesia's Adnan Maulana and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil 21-18, 21-14.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Crasto had also advanced to the second round in women's doubles, playing alongside experienced Ashwini Ponnappa. They overcame Thailand's Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-6, 21-14.
The Indian mixed doubles duo of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde suffered a defeat in their opening encounter, succumbing to England's Gregory Mairs and Jenny Mairs 9-21, 13-21.
India experienced a disappointing start in men's singles as both Ayush Shetty, who finished second at the 2023 Odisha Masters, and Kiran George failed to advance beyond the first round.
Despite displaying resilient performance, Shetty fell short against Chinese world No.1 and dual Asian Games champion Shi Yu Qi, losing 19-21, 19-21, while George was defeated by Korea's Jeon Hyeok-jin 12-21, 10-21.
India faced setbacks in women's singles as well, with Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj suffering a defeat against Japanese Tomoka Miyazaki, losing 17-21, 19-21 in the opening round. Tanya Hemanth was also eliminated after a 14-21, 11-21 loss to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon.
India's two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is scheduled to begin her tournament against Vietnam's Thuy Linh Nguyen in the evening session on Wednesday.