French Open Badminton: Asmita and Tanvi March On, Satwik-Chirag Fall to French Brothers

Indian shuttlers Asmita Chaliha and Tanvi Sharma advanced to the next round of the French Open badminton tournament with impressive women's singles victories on Tuesday, while the country's star men's doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a three-game defeat.

The world No. 5 Indian duo fought back after losing the opening game but could not complete the comeback, going down 19-21, 21-18, 13-21 to French brothers Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov in a round-of-32 encounter that lasted just over an hour.

Satwik and Chirag showed their resilience by taking the second game to force a decider. However, the French pair regained control in the final game to end the Indians' campaign at the tournament.

There was better news in women's singles, where Asmita Chaliha produced a composed performance to defeat China's Hang Qian Xi 21-18, 24-22 in 39 minutes. Asmita held her nerve in a closely contested second game to seal her place in the next round.

Tanvi Sharma also progressed after delivering a convincing straight-game victory over compatriot Isharani Baruah. Tanvi needed just 32 minutes to register a 21-12, 21-12 win and book her place in the women's singles round of 16.

The result offered a bright spot for the Indian contingent, with Tanvi advancing comfortably and Asmita negotiating a tougher test against her Chinese opponent.

India's campaign in women's doubles, however, suffered another setback as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out in the round of 32. The Indian pair lost 17-21, 18-21 to Chinese Taipei's Lin Chih-Chun and Yang Chu Yun.

The contrasting results left India with two women's singles players progressing, while the high-profile men's doubles pair and the women's doubles combination exited the competition.