India’s top men’s doubles duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, kept the tricolor flying high at the Singapore Open 2025, storming into the quarterfinals with a gritty three-game win. However, the rest of the Indian contingent endured a tough day on the court, with big names like HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu bowing out in the round of 16.
Satwik and Chirag, currently India’s strongest badminton pair, showed nerves of steel as they rallied from a game down to defeat Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. After losing the first game 19-21, the Indian pair bounced back with a 21-16, 21-18 finish in a contest that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.Their next challenge is a major one: a quarterfinal clash against the world No. 1 Malaysian pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, seeded second in the tournament.
While Satwik and Chirag gave fans reason to cheer, it was disappointment elsewhere. In men’s singles, HS Prannoy was knocked out by France’s Christo Popov in straight games, 16-21, 14-21, in just 42 minutes.
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu’s campaign also ended in the round of 16. After a promising second game, the two-time Olympic medallist fell to China’s Chen Yu Fei with scores of 9-21, 21-18, 16-21. India’s mixed doubles hopes were dashed as well, with Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde losing to Hong Kong’s second-seeded duo Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in a straight-set defeat: 10-21, 16-21.
The women’s doubles action continued with some Indian representation still alive. Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are scheduled to play later in the day, hoping to bring some redemption.
Earlier, the women’s singles opening round saw a string of early exits. Aakarshi Kashyap put up a fight but went down to world No. 4 Han Yue 21-17, 13-21, 7-21 in a match that ran close to an hour. Unnati Hooda also crashed out despite a strong start, losing 21-13, 9-21, 15-21 to world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi.
Anupama Upadhyaya joined the exit list after a 12-21, 16-21 loss to Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun, while the women’s doubles duo of Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Alisha Khan were swept aside 8-21, 9-21 by Australia’s Gronya Somerville and Angela Yu.
In a further setback for India, top men’s singles player Lakshya Sen was forced to retire due to a lower back issue. Sen had taken the opening game 21-15 against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi and narrowly lost the second 17-21. However, physical discomfort saw him concede the decider while trailing 5-13. With only a few Indians remaining in the fray, all eyes now turn to Satwik and Chirag’s high-stakes quarterfinal battle as the duo carries India’s hopes forward at the Singapore Super 750.
