It was heartbreak yet again for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as they lost in the semifinals of the BWF World Tour Finals against Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China 21-10, 17-21, 13-21 in Hangzhou on Saturday.Satwik-Chirag ended the year without a title despite reaching two finals and six semifinals. The Olympic silver medallists from China fought back after losing badly in the first game to win a close second and then thrashed the Indians in the decider.
Fortunes changed swiftly in the semifinals. Satwik-Chirag won eight of the nine points to lead 11-6 at the break. In another burst, they won nine straight points from 12-10 to win the game. It was quite close till 12-12 in the second game as the Chinese duo managed to move the Indians to both ends, not allowing their hard hitting opponents enough time to pack power into their shots. The rallies were short and the longest was a 22-shot at 18-16 in the second game. At 19-17, a poor service return from Satwik allowed the Chinese to move to game point, which they converted, thanks to deft drop from Wang. In the third game, the Chinese got off to a 4-0 lead and extended it to 11-2. They did not allow the Indians to recover from such a huge deficit.Liang and Wang will face top seeds Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae. In the women’s singles semifinals, An Se Young of South Korea drubbed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-15, 21-12. The top seed will face China’s Wang Zhi Yi, who downed Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon 15-21, 21-17, 21-11. The men’s singles final will be between Shi Yu Qi of China and Christo Popov of France. Popov defeated Kodai Naraoka of Japan 21-19, 21-8 and Shi eased past top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-16, 21-13.
