India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fell short of winning their first title of the season in Kuala Lumpur as they went down fighting in the men’s doubles final against World No. 1 pair Wei Keng Liang and Chang Wang of China on Sunday, January 14. Satwiksairaj and Chirag were not able to maintain the momentum despite winning the first game as they were beaten 21-9, 18-21, 17-21 in 58 minutes.
World No. 2 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty looked pumped up and took the packed crowd at the Axiata Arena by storm when they won the opening game without giving an inch to the top-ranked Chinese shuttlers. The two Indian stars, who were recently conferred with the Khel Ratna Award, got the energy going on the court, going full tilt with their aggression in the opening game.
However, Wei and Chang did not throw in the towel as they hung in and never allowed Satwik and Chirag to go ahead with a lead in the second game.
Satwik and Chirag seemingly turned it around in the deciding game as they took a 10-3 lead. The two young Indians were in the driver’s seat and looking set to win the season-opening Super 1000 tournament. However, the numero uno Chinese stars strung a series of points to not allow Satwik and Chirag run away with it after the break. They made it 14-14 before going 16-14 and never looked back from there as they held their nerves better.
More to follow….
