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The confidence oozing from the racquets of India's top men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in these past three weeks has been refreshing to watch. Not only have the World No. 16 pair justified their place in the top 20 of world rankings, but they have also kept improving week by week.
If at the Indonesia Open Super 1000, they bowed out in the pre-quarter-finals, then they went a step further the very next week at the Japan Open Super 750 to reach the quarter-finals. While those efforts pushed them to their career-high ranking of 16 this week, they are set to crack the top 10 if they can go all the way at the Thailand Open in Bangkok.
Let's point it out at the outset that it won't be very easy. They face the third seeds and World No. 2 pair of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China, who are the reigning world champions. Needless to say that they will remain a huge obstacle for the Indians. The two pairs have faced off only once before where the Chinese emerged triumphant in a close two-game encounter at the Australian Open this year.
Having said that, it needs to be noted that the Chinese pair haven't been at their flawless best and have dropped a couple of games on their way to the final. The Indians have conceded one game more than them but their fighting spirit and self-belief have been extraordinary.
Their victims include World No. 7 Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, World No. 19 Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol, and World No. 27 Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae.
All of them are highly accomplished teams and the way the young Indians have combined their relentless attack with their much-improved defense to make a dent in the confidence levels of their opponents, speaks volumes of their courage and hunger to excel.
Even though the task seems uphill, it won't be a surprise if they manage to keep their run going and cause one more upset to lay their hands on the biggest trophy of their career.
Here is all you need to know about the Thailand Open
Tournament: Toyota Thailand Open 2019
Category: Super 500
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Round: Final
Head-to-head: Li and Liu lead 1-0 (They def. Rankireddy/Shetty 21-19, 21-18 at 2019 Australian Open)
Schedule: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty vs (3) Li Jun Hui & Li Yu Chen at approx 12:30pm IST on Sunday, August 4, 2019
Where to watch the matches in India?
The final will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches:
Live Stream for the match is available on Shuttle Live channel on YouTube.
