Malaysia Open Badminton Highlights: World No.5 Men’s Doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out from the Malaysia Open 2023. The duo faced 16-21, 21-11, 15-21 defeat against China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the last-four. With their loss none of the Indians remain in the event. For the seventh seeded Indians, it was their third semi-final finish in a Super 1000 tournament. Follow Malaysia Open Badminton LIVE Updates with InsideSport.IN
All you want to know about Satwik Chirag Semifinal LIVE
- Chirag/Satwik LOST TO Liang/Wang – 16-21, 21-11, 15-21
Malaysia Open Badminton Highlights: Chirag-Satwik pair march into Malaysia Open semifinal, Prannoy bows…
Malaysia Open Badminton LIVE: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty aim to reach Malaysia Open Final, face Chinese challenge in semifinals – Follow LIVE updates
Right from the start, both the pairs put on a good fight against each other. The scores were level 7-7. However the Indian pair managed to pip their rivals by taking the next three points on the trot. They were looking to enter the break with a good lead but the Chinese pair yet again levelled the score 10-10.
Trailing 11-10 at the break, they continued the neck-to-neck battle. From 14-14, they ran away with a 18-14 lead. From then on they built on the momentum and closed out the contest 21-16.
In the second game too both the set of players were involved in a close battle. The Indians however gathered themselves and turned it around as they broke off from 4-4. Satwik and Chirag won 7 of the last 8 points to grab a six-point advantage at the interval.
Malaysia Open Badminton LIVE: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty aim to reach Malaysia Open Final, face Chinese challenge in semifinals – Follow LIVE updatesOn resumption, the Indians continued their dominance. They sealed it on their fourth attempt to take the match to the decider after Liang went to net.
The third game saw the two engage in some fabulous rallies with Chirag taking command of the front court initially. However, Liang and Wang, the Japan Open champions, soon staged a recovery to lead 8-6. The Chinese combination had a two-point cushion at the break after Wang produced a superb flick serve.
Wang and Liang extended the lead and went on to take the scores 19-14. A flurry of smashes from Liang then sealed the final place for the Chinese pair in their first ever super 1000 tournament. World championships bronze medallists Satwik and Chirag will be in action at next week’s India Open Super 750 tournament in New Delhi.