Daijiworld Media Network - Aichi
Aichi, Sep 25: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock opening-round defeat in the men’s doubles badminton event at the Asian Games, ending their bid to defend the gold medal they won at Hangzhou 2023.
The Indian pair went down 12-21, 21-19, 21-14 to Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun, ranked 36th in the world, in a three-game contest in Aichi.
Satwik and Chirag had created history at the 2023 Asian Games by becoming the first Indian badminton players to win an Asian Games gold medal in the sport.
The Indian duo entered the doubles competition after helping India secure a bronze medal in the men’s team event. Earlier, they had defeated reigning world champions and world No. 3 pair Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in India’s team semifinal against the People’s Republic of China.
Satwik and Chirag began the doubles match strongly, taking an early lead and controlling the opening game. After moving 2-1 ahead, they maintained their advantage to close out the game 21-12.
The Thai pair responded in the second game. After India led 4-2, Teeraratsakul and Sukphun levelled the score at 5-5 and moved ahead 11-9 at the interval. They extended their lead to 17-13 before holding off a late Indian challenge to win 21-19.
The decider remained close until 6-6, but the Thai pair went into the interval with an 11-9 lead. They then pulled away after the change of ends and completed the upset with a 21-14 victory.
India, however, had positive results in other badminton events. In mixed doubles, world No. 19 Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila defeated Malaysia’s world No. 10 Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai 22-20, 24-22 in the second round. They had earlier beaten Maldives’ Aminath Abdul Razzaq and Nibal Ahmed 21-8, 21-7.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda advanced with a 21-9, 21-10 victory over North Korea’s Yu Mi Song. She will next face Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching.
India’s badminton schedule on Friday also includes women’s doubles matches featuring Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi, while Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun are set to compete in men’s doubles.