Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty rally to beat Malaysia and reach World Championships quarter-finals in New Delhi

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came from a game down to defeat Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy Kim Yap 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 in a Round of 16 match at the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi on August 20, 2026, an 82-minute contest that kept their hopes of a World Championships medal on home soil alive.

The Indians entered the tournament as the fifth-seeded pair, having received a first-round bye and progressed to the Round of 16 via a second-round walkover; they are also the 2022 and 2025 World Championships bronze medallists. Their victory offered a rare positive result for the host nation on a day when PV Sindhu and Ayush Shetty were eliminated from their singles draws.

Satwik and Chirag took an early advantage in the opening game, moving to an 11-8 lead at the interval, but Junaidi and Roy fought back to level at 18-18 and then edged the game 23-21. The Malaysians' recovery forced the Indians to chase from the second game onward. The first game score set the tone for a match that shifted frequently.

In the second game the Indian duo again led 11-8 at the interval and sustained attacking pressure throughout. Malaysia remained within reach, but Satwik and Chirag steadied in the late exchanges to close out the game 21-19 and force a decider. Their aggressive approach was a consistent thread throughout the match.

The deciding game saw Junaidi and Roy lead 11-8 at the mid-game break before the Indians chipped away at the margin. Rankireddy and Shetty levelled at 16-16 and moved in front 19-17 as the home crowd intensified. After Chirag was urged to quicken the pace, a Malaysian error followed, then the Indians produced a long defensive rally finished by Satwik's powerful smash; another Malaysian error handed two match points and Satwik sealed the win with a decisive winner.

Elsewhere for India, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu exited the tournament after losing 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 to China's Wang Zhi Yi in the Round of 16. Ayush Shetty, who had beaten defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the opening round, lost 19-21, 11-21 to Alwi Farhan, ending his run; Lakshya Sen had already been eliminated on Wednesday. In women's doubles, unseeded Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat Japanese seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-16, 21-12 to reach the quarter-finals, becoming the first Indian women's doubles pair to do so since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in 2015, with Treesa returning from injury.

Satwik and Chirag's win advances them to the World Championships quarter-finals, where they will meet third seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang.