India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (right) and Chirag Shetty. file. , Photo Credit: AP
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to enter the final of the Badminton Asia Championships after their opponents retired midway through their semi-final match, here on April 29.
After winning the first game 21-18, Satwik and Chirag were trailing 13-14 in the second game when the Chinese Taipei pair of Li Yang and Wang Chi-lin retired and handed the match to the Indians.
They will face eighth seeds Malaysian pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yee, who beat fourth seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-6, 26-24 in the other semi-final on Sunday.
Satwik said it was “unfortunate” that the match ended in such a way that his opponents took it for granted.
“Still, we won the first game; we played better than the last two-three games. We were there. We weren’t giving them chances,” Satwik said.
“Our strategy was right. Glad to be playing the final in front of a huge crowd like we are playing in India.” Talking about their final opponents on Sunday, Chirag said, “It is always a close contest against the Malaysians. They are defenders and we are attackers. It will be a good game.” Satwik and Chirag had earlier on Friday made it to the historic semi-finals by defeating the experienced Indonesian pair of Mohd Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11 21-12 in the quarterfinals. This will be India’s first men’s doubles medal in a continental event after 52 years.
PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy had lost in the quarterfinals in women’s and men’s singles respectively.