China Masters: Satwik-Chirag trip at final hurdle despite fightback

Shenzhen, November 26

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought valiantly before going down to the Chinese duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in an exciting men’s doubles final of the China Masters Super 750 tournament here today.

You never say never. I think at 13-20, we didn’t have much to lose because we were under no pressure. We just played our game, didn’t really think too much, we took our chances, got a few quick points from them, and at 19-20 it was like, anybody’s point, quite unlucky there. Chirag Shetty

Rankireddy and Shetty, the Asian Games champions, lost 19-21 21-18 19-21 to the world No. 1 Chinese pair after a battle lasting one hour, 11 minutes. It was their first defeat in six finals this season.

The Indians gave ample display of their grit as they saved six championship points from 13-20 to 19-20 after recovering from 1-8 down in the decider, but Liang and Wang found their bearing just in time to win the first men’s doubles title at the China Masters for the hosts in eight years. With this victory, Liang and Wang avenged their Asian Games loss to the Indians.

“You never say never. I think at 13-20, we didn’t have much to lose because we were under no pressure. We had to win nine points on the trot for us to win the match,” Shetty said. “We just played our game, didn’t really think too much, we took our chances, got a few quick points from them, and at 19-20 it was like, anybody’s point, quite unlucky there. But yeah, it was a good game and especially the tournament has been really good, so yeah, looking forward to next year.”

In a finale of fluctuating fortunes, the Indian shuttlers couldn’t produce their best as their defence, particularly Rankireddy’s, wilted under the pressure from Liang and Wang, who looked in the zone. Wang rose to the occasion and stood tall in the key moments, winning the battle of the front court play with Shetty.

It was an exhibition of versatility of skills as the two pairs focused more on placement and angles, varying the pace to outmanoeuvre the other.

The Chinese pair led the head-to-head record against their opponents going into the final though the Indian duo had won their most recent meeting in straight games.