After a sub-par performance at the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023, the Indians have perked up once again in recent weeks. Lakshya Sen made the semifinals of the Thailand Open, and Kidambi Srikanth the quarterfinals in Indonesia. HS Prannoy won the Malaysia Masters and is now in the semifinals of the KAPAL API GROUP Indonesia Open 2023, joined by men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

Today HS Prannoy and Rankireddy/Shetty were flawless, with Prannoy pushing the pace at the right moments against Kodai Naraoka, while Rankireddy/Shetty kept top seeds Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto on edge in a straight-games rout.

Prannoy said their disappointing outing in Suzhou at the Sudirman Cup caused the Indians to do some soul-searching.

“That was the first tournament we got in after a break, and there was rustiness,” said Prannoy.

“And the first tie didn’t go our way, that kind of changed the whole tournament for us. Everybody woke up after that loss. Everybody felt really bad. As individuals also, all of us were down for four days. 

“It took a while for us to regroup and get back, and then the Malaysia Open was a good chance, and a lot of fire was there to prove ourselves again to the supporters. I’m sure they were also disappointed with what happened at the Sudirman Cup because there were a lot of expectations post-Thomas Cup. But I think that fire actually gave a lot of good results in Malaysia and as a team also we started playing very well. We are able to carry on that momentum.”

Shetty called his first round loss at the Singapore Open “the lowest low”, following which he and partner Rankireddy tried to rekindle the fire.

“We didn’t really have time after the Asian Championships that we won. We didn’t play well at the Sudirman Cup, the Thailand Open and the Singapore Open. That was the lowest low we could’ve gone.

“Both of us were quite depressed with the way we played. We spoke to each other and we knew we had to go higher, and the way we got back this week, beating the Chinese yesterday and today the world No.1 on their home court, it couldn’t have gone any better. But we’re still hungry and we want to go all the way.

“After Swiss Open and after the Asian Championships, we were on a 10-match winning streak – I wouldn’t say we were not hungry at all, but there was slight dip. A few matches here and there and suddenly the confidence went down.

“The Singapore Open was one of those matches when we felt really bad, after going out in the first round, and we knew we had to come back, and from then on we pushed as hard as possible in the one week we got, in training. The results are showing. The main aspect is the hunger to win, and I think we had that this week.”

Highlights

• Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee made their 10^th semifinal from 11 tournaments this year, beating top seeds Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan 21-18 21-12. They face compatriots Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong, who won a 97-minute match against Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu 21-19 12-21 21-18.
• Ratchanok Intanon made her first semifinal this year beating top seed Akane Yamaguchi 18-21 25-23 21-16.

Results (Quarterfinals)

Order of Play (Semifinals)