The Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi was filled to the brim as excitement soared for the quarter-finals of India Open 2025. Little did the fans know that they were in for a rollercoaster ride as two out of three Indian quarter-finalists crashed out of the tournament. The fan favourite duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the only highlights of the day as they won in style against the Korean pair of Yong Jin and Kang Min Hyuk.
Satwik-Chirag bring their A-game
It was once again the duo of Sat-Chi that made the day worthwhile for the fans. They won 21-10, 21-17 against South Korea’s Yong Jin and Kang Min Hyuk in a dominating affair that left no room for the Korean duo to make an entry into the game. Year after year, at the India Open, fans queue in to watch the ‘Brothers of Destruction’ in action and they do not fail to impress.
“Right from the get-go, we went all guns blazing and that’s what we wanted to do. We knew if we were slow, they would capitalise on it. We never wanted them to get back into the game, happy that we could take the win,” Chirag said about his strategy.
“Manu [Attri] and Sumeeth [Reddy] have been working with us since the Olympics. It’s always good to have seniors, they were our opponents before so they know our game. It’s really nice to have someone local, it becomes much easier when the communication is in a local language,” answered Satwik after he was asked about the duo’s bond with the coaches.
PV Sindhu loses out on semi-final berth
Former Champion PV Sindhu failed to capitalise on a second game win after a neck-and-neck battle with World No. 5 Gregoria Tunjung. After the Round of 16 match win, Sindhu had emphasised on her upcoming battle with Tunjung and admitted that “it won’t be an easy one”. The 29-year-old had already been struggling with injuries and was aiming for a comeback after being sidelined for six months following the Paris Olympics. After losing the first game, Sindhu made a comeback but some brilliant stroke-play from Tunjung changed the tide of the game. Sindhu lost out on a semi-final berth after a close 21-9, 19-21, 21-17 defeat.
“I played a long match and it is sad that I lost in the third game after fighting so hard. The game is such that I have to come back stronger. I’ll have to be much more consistent. It was 17-all in the third game, it was anybody’s game. I should have made her move, there were long rallies, we have to fight for every point,” Sindhu reflected on her loss. “Lots of positives from the tournament, for me to improve these are the matches I need to learn from and come back stronger.”
Meanwhile, Kiran George who made it to the quater-finals after pulling off an upset against World No. 17 Frenchman Alex Lenier, lost to China’s Weng Hong Yang 21-13, 21-19. The 24-year-old failed to replicate the same result as his last game. But there’s much to look forward to for the young shuttler, especially considering how far he made in the tournament as someone who was a last-minute entry from the reserve list.
On the weekend, the home crowd will have only one Indian team to watch out for as Satwik and Chirag will play third seeded Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin of Indonesia in the semi-finals.