Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s bid to defend their men’s doubles badminton crown at the Asian Games ended in the opening round itself. Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun stunned the Indian pair, producing a three-game upset in Aichi. The duo went down 12-21, 21-19, 21-14 to the world No. 36.
Their defeat brought an early end to the campaign for the players who made history at Hangzhou 2023 by becoming the first Indian badminton players to win an Asian Games gold medal.
Meanwhile, Satwik and Chirag had entered the doubles event after contributing to India’s bronze-medal finish in the men’s team event. Earlier in the week, they had defeated world No. 3 and reigning world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in India’s team semi-final against the People’s Republic of China.
How did the match progress?
The defending champions started their title defence strongly. They established control early in the opening game and maintained their advantage throughout. Eventually, they moved ahead after a 2-1 start and finished the game 21-12 without allowing their opponents to take the lead.
However, the contest changed direction in the second game. A 4-2 Indian advantage disappeared as the Thai pair levelled at 5-5 and moved into a 11-9 lead at the interval. Teeraratsakul and Sukphun stretched that advantage to 17-13. Although the Indians attempted a recovery, the Thai pair held on to win 21-19.
The decider remained closely fought until 6-6, but Thailand again reached the interval in front, leading 11-9. The Thai pair then created separation after the change of ends and closed out the match 21-14.
Positive day for Badminton otherwise
India had a positive result in mixed doubles, where 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 begun with a 21-8, 21-7 win over Maldives’ Aminath Abdul Razzaq and Nibal Ahmed.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda advanced after beating the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Yu Mi Song 21-9, 21-10. She will next meet Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching.
India’s remaining badminton action on Friday includes women’s doubles matches involving Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi, while Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun are scheduled to compete in men’s doubles.
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