Tokyo : Young doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy displayed unrelenting will and stamina as he played four matches on the qualifying round to make it to the main draw of both men’s and mixed doubles events at the Japan Super Series.
The 17-year-old from Andra Pradesh paired up with his men’s doubles partner Chirag Shetty to edge past Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Hiroyuki Saeki 14-21 22-20 21-18 in the opening round and then defeated another local combination of Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi 21-18 21-12 to qualify for the main draw. However, it was curtains for Parupalli Kashyap in the men’s singles qualifying round. The 31-year-old from Hyderabad defeated Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-15 21-14 in the opening round before going down narrowly to Japan’s Yu Igarashi 11-21 21-18 14-21 to crash out of the event.
In the main draw of mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy overcame Japan’s Tomoya Takashina and Rie Etoh 21-19 17-21 21-15 to advance to the second round.
