India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships in Paris with a dominant straight-games victory over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik on Friday. The Indian duo, seeded higher, defeated their long-time rivals 21-12, 21-19 in just 43 minutes, gaining sweet revenge for their painful loss to the same pair in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With this victory, Satwik and Chirag have assured themselves of at least a bronze medal, becoming the first Indian men’s pair to win two medals at the prestigious event, after their bronze in 2022. They also extended India’s proud record of winning at least one medal at every World Championships since 2011.

Reflecting on the match, Chirag said, “It was a rematch of sorts from the Olympics and I think we finally got some redemption. It’s always a pleasure playing against them and really happy we could win today.” Satwik added, “We just want to play our A game and focus on ourselves. Really happy with how we played.”

The Indians will next face China’s young duo, Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi, in the semi-final on Saturday, with a maiden final berth on the line.