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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reached World Championships quarterfinals. PV Sindhu and Ayush Shetty were eliminated.
New Delhi: India’s Chirag Shetty, right, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in action during the men’s doubles round-of-16 badminton match against Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King, unseen, at the BWF World Championships, at IGI Stadium, in New Delhi, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan)
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept India’s medal hopes alive at the World Championships by reaching the men’s doubles quarterfinals, while PV Sindhu and Ayush Shetty were knocked out of the singles events on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Indian men’s doubles pair, who have already won bronze at the 2022 and 2025 editions, survived a tough battle against Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King, winning 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 in the pre-quarterfinals.
It was Satwik and Chirag’s first appearance at the tournament after receiving a first-round bye and advancing through a second-round walkover. They will now be one win away from securing their third World Championships medal.
India also advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand producing an impressive upset against seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi. The unseeded Indians controlled the contest from the outset to beat the Japanese pair 21-16, 21-12.
The result marked the first time since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa reached the last eight in 2015 that an Indian women’s doubles pair has made the World Championships quarterfinals. Treesa and Gayatri are also continuing their comeback after Treesa’s injury layoff.
However, India’s singles campaigns ended on Thursday.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist and already a five-time World Championships medallist, fell short of a record sixth medal after losing 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 to China’s world No. 3 Wang Zhi Yi.
The Indian, ranked ninth in the world, had entered her 11th World Championships with a 3-5 head-to-head record against Wang. She struggled in the opening game as Wang built a commanding lead and eventually secured the game comfortably.
Sindhu responded strongly in the second game. She established an early advantage and, despite Wang repeatedly closing the gap, produced several attacking winners to take the contest into a decider.
The third game remained tightly contested. Sindhu led 13-10 and later regained a 16-15 advantage, but Wang continued to fight despite appearing to suffer severe cramps in both legs.
The Chinese player first went down while chasing a shuttle and held her left thigh before receiving medical attention. She later appeared to suffer another cramp in her right leg, but continued competing.
Sindhu could not capitalise. A smash into the net gave Wang three match points, and the Chinese player converted her first opportunity to seal a gruelling victory.
“I don’t know if she had an injury or what, maybe that was her tactics and her way of doing it,” Sindhu said after the match.
“I have to be focused and I was, but again each point matters, right? At that point, even though she takes a break or not, if she is injured or not, you never know.”
The defeat was particularly painful for Sindhu after her long preparation for the tournament.
“It does hurt a lot more because after you train and work hard for so long, losing these kind of matches definitely hurts a lot. But I think it is a game, that is how it is supposed to be.”
Earlier, Ayush Shetty’s campaign also came to an end. The 21-year-old, who stunned defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the opening round, lost 19-21, 11-21 to 11th-seeded Indonesian Alwi Farhan.
It was Shetty’s fifth defeat in eight meetings with the world No. 12, while Lakshya Sen’s exit on Wednesday had already ended India’s hopes in men’s singles.
With the singles players gone, India’s medal hopes now rest on Satwik-Chirag and Treesa-Gayatri.
Key Questions Answered
Ask News18Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are one win away from securing their third World Championships medal, having advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals.
Ask News18August 20, 2026, 10:17 PM IST
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