BWF World Championships: Satwik-Chirag, Sindhu, Dhruv Kapila reach quarterfinals

PARIS: The Indian men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships 2025 with a win over current Olympic silver medalists and World Championships bronze medalists Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the round of 16 match at Paris on Thursday.

Satwik-Chirag beat the Chinese pair by 19-21, 21-15, 21-17. After going down in a highly competitive first game, the Indian pair absorbed pressure brilliantly, winning the next two games to seal the match. The match lasted for a total of 66 minutes.

Earlier, P V Sindhu stormed into the BWF World Championships 2025 quarter-finals with a sensational victory over World No. 2 Wang Zhiyi of China. The 2019 World Champion stamped her authority early with a win in the first game, before outplaying her opponent with an utterly dominant second game performance to wrap up a 21-19, 21-15 victory in just 48 minutes, as per BAI.

Three shots at silverware!

The BWF World Championships 2025 QF action begins now pic.twitter.com/iOXzPIE5GN

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 29, 2025

Sindhu, who had beaten Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova in the first game and Malaysia’s Karupathevan Letshanaa in the second, will face Indonesian shuttler Putri Kusuma Wardani for a semi-final berth on Friday. Sindhu is a former world champion from 2019. Sindhu is on a hunt for her sixth medal in this global event, having bagged back-to-back bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and successive silver medals from 2017 and 2018.

Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto made it to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships by knocking off the two-time World Championships medalists pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in their round of 16 clash on Thursday.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Kapila and Crasto had kick-started their campaign in the second round. The two-time World Championships bronze medalist Hong Kong pair was off to a fine start in this third round match, capturing a closely-fought first game by 19-21.

However, the resolve and determination of the Indian pair were too strong as they captured the next two games by 21-15, 21-15, sending the fifth-ranked pair out of the competition. Now, their contest in the quarterfinals will be the pair of Linden Wang and Eva Wang.

Earlier, Kapila and Castro overwhelmed Joshua Magee and Moya Ryan from Ireland. The Indian duo hardly broke a sweat and wrapped up the contest with a 21-11, 21-16 victory in 35 minutes.

They dominated the opening game and then quickly built a 12-8 lead in the second. The Indian pair had a scare after Kapila tumbled and appeared in pain while clutching his knee. He returned to the court and did not show any sign of pain as he moved to the Round of 16 with a victory in straight sets.

India has bagged at least one medal in the Badminton World Championships since 2011. (ANI)