Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down fighting against the Republic of Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, the reigning world champions, in the India Open 2024 men’s doubles final in New Delhi on Sunday.
Rankireddy and Shetty, second in the world badminton rankings, lost to the world No. 3 Korean pair by a 21-15, 11-21, 18-21 scoreline in one hour and five minutes.
This was Sat-Chi’s second straight appearance in the final of the 2024 badminton season. They reached the final of the Malaysia Open – a BWF Super 1000 tournament – last week but lost to world No. 1 pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
On Sunday, Chirag-Satwik, the 2022 India Open champions, relied on counter-attacks in the first game and went into the break with an 11-9 lead. Riding on quick and flat returns, the Indian badminton players increased the lead to six points at 19-13 and closed the opening game in 18 minutes.
The Korean shuttlers used the back court well in the second game and forced some errors out of the Indian shuttlers, who found themselves six points behind in the mid-game interval at 11-5.
Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae quickly increased their lead after the break to make it 18-8. Sat-Chi, who pulled off a stunning comeback in the Malaysia Open semi-finals last week after saving six game points against the same opponents, could not produce the same goods as the match stretched into the decider.
The Korean shuttlers dictated the pace of the third game before the break, leading 11-6. The Indians dug themselves out of the hole after the change of ends in the decider and won four points on the bounce to reduce the deficit.
Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae held their nerves to make it 19-16 and showed exceptional game awareness to seal only their second win against the Asian Games champions from India in six meetings.
India Open 2024, the second tournament of the 2024 badminton season, offered qualifying ranking points to shuttlers for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 last year and will end on April 28 this year.
India Open 2024 winners
- Men’s singles: Shi Yu Qi (People’s Republic of China)
- Women’s singles: Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei)
- Men’s doubles: Kang Min Hyuk-Seo Seung Jae (South Korea)
- Mixed doubles: Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Japan)
- Women’s doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Thailand)
2024-01-21 12:24:00
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