Shenzhen (China), September 5, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the China Masters final for the third time in four years after defeating Malaysia’s Nur Mohd Azriyn and Tan Wee Kiong in the semifinals at the Shenzhen Arena on Saturday.
The Indian duo, popularly known as the ‘Smash Bros’, prevailed 21-16, 18-21, 21-11 in a one-hour-six-minute contest to continue their strong record at the tournament.
Satwik and Chirag were slow out of the blocks, falling 0-5 behind in the opening game. They quickly recovered, however, winning seven successive points to move 7-5 ahead before maintaining their advantage to take the game 21-16.
The Malaysians responded strongly in the second game and forced a decider by winning 21-18. The 2022 Asian Games champions then took control of the final game, leaving their opponents with little opportunity to fight back. Although the Malaysians saved two match points, the Indians closed out the contest 21-11.
Satwik and Chirag will face the winners of the other semifinal between Malaysia’s Tee Kai Wun/Yap Roy King and China’s He Ji Ting/Ren Xiang Yu in the title clash.
The Indian pair had entered the semifinals after a hard-fought 21-13, 16-21, 21-18 victory over Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen on Friday. The win was their second against the Danish combination at the China Masters, following their quarterfinal victory over them in 2024.
Satwik and Chirag have reached at least the semifinals at every edition of the China Masters since 2019. They finished runners-up in 2023 and 2025 and will now seek to go one step further.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth’s campaign ended in the quarterfinals after he went down 16-21, 16-21 to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu. It was Srikanth’s first quarterfinal appearance at a BWF World Tour Super 750 event or higher in three years.
The defeat extended Lee’s head-to-head advantage, with Srikanth now having lost their last four meetings. His only victory over the Hong Kong player came in the first round of the 2018 India Open.
Srikanth had reached the quarterfinals after upsetting Canada’s World No. 9 and recent World Championship bronze medallist Victor Lai 21-18, 21-19 in the pre-quarterfinals. He had earlier defeated Chinese Taipei’s World No. 21 Chi Yu-jen 21-16, 21-15 in just 35 minutes in the opening round.
India’s women’s singles campaign ended on Thursday when Tanvi Sharma lost 21-17, 18-21, 21-16 to Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki.
In mixed doubles, India’s Dhruv Kapila and Olympian Tanisha Crasto were beaten 21-18, 21-18 by Chinese Taipei’s Liu Kuang-Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui in the second round.
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