French Open: Rankireddy, Shetty stun top seeds, enter semis

Paris: Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned top seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in straight games to enter the semifinals of the French Open badminton tournament here on Friday.

Seeded seventh in the Super 750 event, Rankireddy and Shetty won 21-12, 21-16 in a quarterfinal that lasted 49 minutes.

The Indian duo will face the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the semifinals.

Rankireddyand Shetty are the only Indians left in the fray in the tournament.

Sameer Verma and Kidambi Srikanth had suffered contrasting losses to bow out of the men's singles competition on Thursday.

Sameer lost 18-21 11-21 to Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the pre-quarterfinals.

Srikanth bowed out after losing to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-19, 12-21, 19-21 in a match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

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