Tokyo drifts away

Tokyo, August 27

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty capped off a memorable campaign with a historic bronze medal in the men’s doubles competition of the World Championships after going down narrowly to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the semifinals here today.

The world No. 7 pair, which had claimed the CWG men’s doubles gold earlier this month, flattered to deceive as they squandered an opening game advantage to go down 22-20 18-21 16-21 to the Olympics bronze medallists in a pulsating 77-minute clash, bringing an end to the Indian challenge at the prestigious tournament.

It was the sixth successive defeat to the world No. 6 pair for the Indians. However, it was a creditable show by Rankireddy and Shetty. They ensured that India’s World Championships medal streak — which began in 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa clinched a bronze — continued unabated. Shetty looked a bit off-colour today with his serve and defence, while Rankireddy tried his best to make up for it but in the end the Malaysians proved too good and more subtle in their strokeplay. The high-octane match saw some shots hitting the net cord and points going against the Indians, who also had to dash out of the court more than once to change their racquets at crucial junctures after the strings snapped during rallies.

“It is unfortunate to always be unlucky all the time in crucial stages. There were too many string-outs and lucky net cords in crucial times, which is really irritating,” Rankireddy said. “At 17-15, Chirag’s racquet string was out, so it is always unlucky situations for us. Maybe we should do lot more puja and pray to God. It was a tough loss.”