India’s top-ranked badminton pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the Malaysia Open 2024 final on Sunday, January 14. Indian pair was defeated by the world no.1 Wang Chang and Liang Weikeng of China in the boys’s doubles final by 21-9, 18-21, 17-21 in the primary BWF Super 1000 match of the season.
After successful Gold in the Asian Games and the Indonesia Open 1000 title final yr, the in-form Indian duo dominated the primary recreation against Liang-Wang. Indian par was too highly effective for his or her Chinese foe and registered the primary recreation by 21-9 with 5 consecutive factors to take the lead.
However, the world no.1 pair displayed a exceptional comeback in the second recreation by taking an early 11-6 lead. Satwik-Chirag took the sport to the wire however the Chinese pair walked away with a 21-18 win to stage the match at Kuala Lumpur’s Axiata Arena.Â
Chirag was spectacular together with his smashes in the third and decider recreation that gave India an early 2-0Â lead and stored Liang-Wang below strain. The Indian duo recorded straight 5 factors forcing their opponent for errors and stretched the result in 10-3.Â
But as soon as once more, the Chinese pair justified their high rating to stage the sport to 12-12. Both Chirag and Stawik made some pressured errors and conceded the lead for the primary time after recreation level 13 and have been trailing by 14-16. Chirag appeared misplaced together with his judgement to deal with the reverse serves and Indian pair managed to make a comeback.
This was the fourth defeat for Satwik-Chirag against the world no.1 Liang-Wang. The Chinese pair additionally defeated the Indian stalwarts in the semi-final of the 2023 Malaysia Open and one other win will stretch their high spot in the BWF males’s doubles rankings.Â
