India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, exited the Swiss Open 2026 in the quarterfinal stage on Friday after giving a walkover to Denmark’s Christian Kjaer and Rasmus Kjaer.
The Indian duo did not take the court for their scheduled quarterfinal clash, and the reason behind the withdrawal was not immediately known. Their sudden exit ended a promising run in the tournament where they had regained momentum following an early setback at the All England Open last week.
Satwik and Chirag had entered the Swiss Open as the top seeds and looked in strong form in the earlier rounds. They began their campaign with a confident win over the Indonesian pair of Koh and Kubo in the first round, setting up a round-of-16 encounter against Japan’s Okamura and Yamashita.
The Indian pair faced a tough challenge in that match but managed to pull through after a hard-fought 74-minute contest on Thursday. Their victory in the pre-quarterfinal stage appeared to put them back on track after the disappointing first-round exit at the All England Open.
However, their campaign came to an unexpected end before the quarterfinal match could begin, handing the Danish brothers a walkover and a place in the semifinals.
Later in the day, India’s challenge in the men’s singles category also came to an end as Tharun Mannepalli was defeated in the quarterfinals by Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting.
Mannepalli fought hard throughout the match but eventually went down 19-21, 21-19, 13-21 in a closely contested encounter. The Indian shuttler showed resilience to force a decider after losing the opening game, but Ginting regained control in the third game to secure the victory.
Despite the loss, Mannepalli’s run to the quarterfinals marked a commendable performance in the tournament. He had shown strong form earlier in the competition to reach the last eight and challenge one of the top players on the international circuit.
With Satwik and Chirag’s unexpected withdrawal and Mannepalli’s defeat, India’s campaign at the Swiss Open 2026 came to an end at the quarterfinal stage.
