Third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were taken to three games before prevailing over Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the men’s doubles Group B encounter on the second day of BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou on Thursday.
The Indians began well by taking the first game comfortably at 21-11. However, the Indonesians hit back in the second game to turn the tables and take the match into the decider. The Indonesian pair won it at 16-21. However, the Indians made their rivals to sweat it out as they romped to a 21-11 win in the final game and maintain a clean slate thus far. The match lasted an exact hour. The Indians have won both their ties in the tournament thus far.
On a day of upsets in the men’s singles, Frenchman Christo Popov stunned top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-11, 18-21, 21-10.
Japan’s Lodai Naraoka stunned second seed Li Shi Feng in straight games in the men’s singles Group B tie. The contest lasted almost an hour as the players went in for long rallies. Naraoka won the tie 21-16, 21-15.
Shi Yu Qi of China stunned third seed Chou Tien Chen in a thrilling three-game encounter. Shi won 21-11, 19-21, 21-15.
The only seed to survive the slaughter was fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark who defeated Indonesia’s Jonatan christie 21-16, 21-14.
In the women’s singles, fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi came from a game down to down Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in their Group A match. Yamaguchi won 22-24, 21-19, 21-13.
In a match which went over an hour, Yamaguchi was made to toil by her opponent. There was not much to separate the duo as both struggled for ascendancy. Wardani prevailed 24-22.
A stung Yamaguchi took off the blocks quickly in the second game and, though Wardani fought on, did not remove her feet from the pedal. The move paid off as Yamaguchi prevailed 21-19 to level the match.
The third game proved to be an easy one for the Japanese shuttler as she cruised to a 21-13 win to wrap up the proceedings.
In another Group A clash, top seed An Se Young brooked no challenge from Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki. It turned out to be a walk in the park for the Chinese shuttler as she cruised to a comfortable 219, 21-6 victory.
In Group B, third seed Han Yue got a walkover from Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, who pulled out of the tournament due to an injury.
Second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China overcame a fighting Thailand shuttler Ratchanok Intanon 21-17, 21-19.
Pornpawee Chochuwong withdraws from tournament
Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong withdrew from the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025 due to a recurrence of her left calf injury. The Thai had won her opening match in Group B against compatriot Ratchanok Intanon on Wednesday.
Following her withdrawal, all her group engagements will become null and void, and the group will become a contest between the remaining three players: Intanon, Wang Zhi Yi and Han Yue. Chochuwong will finish fourth in the group and receive ranking points and prize money for that position.
An upset Chochuwong said it was a recurrence of the injury that had caused her to retire from the Korea Open 2025 final against An Se Young in September. “I played the SEA Games, and I had fully recovered when I came here,” said Chochuwong. “I was feeling fine when I came here, but after training day here I could feel it again. It’s the same injury that had happened at the Korea Open. I forced myself to play yesterday (against Intanon), but today my calf started swelling again. It’s very disappointing and I had a good start, but my body cannot go on, and I need to rest.”
