Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s impressive run at the China Masters 2023 badminton tournament ended after losing to Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles final in Shenzhen on Sunday.
The Indian badminton playersfifth in the BWF rankings, lost to the People’s Republic of China’s world No. 1 pair 19-21, 21-18, 19-21 in 69 minutes to miss out on their fourth BWF title of the 2023 badminton season.
The Indian pair bagged the Swiss Open in March, the Indonesia Open in June and the Korea Open in July. The Indian duo also made history by winning India’s first gold medal in badminton at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month and in April, won the Badminton Asia Championships.
The loss on Sunday was the first time the Indian pair was defeated in the summit clash this year.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who won all of their matches in straight games en route to the final, trailed at the start of the BWF Super 750 final on Sunday.
The Indian pair consistently found the net on several returns, trailing 8-3 in the early exchanges. A stronger defensive play from Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy enabled the pair to beat Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the extended rallies and equalise at 9-9. However, the Chinese duo maintained their aggressive style, ultimately claiming the opening game in 19 minutes.
The Chinese combination, younger than Rankireddy and Shetty, continued to force errors out of the Indian pair and led 9-5 in the second game. However, Rankireddy and Shetty used their heights and reach to good effect and went into the break with a slender 11-10 lead.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy consolidated their lead after the mid-game interval and led 16-12 at one stage. The Asian Games champions looked in trouble with the Chinese pair closing the gap to just one point at 19-18 but the Indians won the last two points to take the match into the decider.
The Indians were overwhelmed at the start of the third game, trailing 9-2. Chirag-Satwik went into the final break with an 11-6 deficit.
Shetty and Rankireddy won the first two points after the change of ends in the decider but Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang continued to play aggressively to have seven match points at their disposal. However, the Indian badminton pair did not drop their shoulders and saved six match points before finally losing out on the final rally.
Results at China Masters 2023 will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year and will end in April 2024.
The next assignment for the Indian badminton players will be the Syed Modi International BWF Super 300 badminton tournament on the home turf in Lucknow starting on Tuesday.
2023-11-26 11:03:00
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