India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to settle for second best at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 on Sunday, going down to China’s Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in a gruelling final. The world No. 9 duo, who came into the clash on the back of a bronze at the World Championships last month, began brightly but could not sustain their momentum, losing 21-19, 14-21, 17-21 in 61 minutes. The defeat ended their unbeaten record in Super 500 finals, where they had won all four of their previous appearances. It was also their first final since lifting the Thailand Open, ending a 16-month wait for a title clash. Despite starting with control in the opener, the Indians slipped into trouble in the decider, conceding an 11-2 lead that proved too much to come back from.Reacting to the match, Chirag Shetty said, “Been a good week, especially after the World Championships a week later and here we are playing a final. You would want to go and win that title but credit to them, they played well as well. There’s always a next time and overall happy with the performance.” Chirag’s counterpart Satwik pointed to tactical shortcomings in the closing stages. “I think the shuttles were a bit fast. They were quite good at the 3-4 strokes. Put us under a lot of pressure in the first 4-5 strokes because they were retrieving quite hard. So I think we could have better planned in the second set, especially the third set as well,” he said, as quoted by PTI. The Indians had come into the contest with a 3-6 head-to-head record against Liang and Wang but had beaten them in Paris last month. This time, however, they were undone by the Chinese pair’s sharpness.
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What do you think about Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s performance at the Hong Kong Open?
For Satwik and Chirag, the runner-up finish capped a campaign of positives, putting into the spotlight their consistency with six semifinal appearances already this season.
