Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty finish runners-up at India Open
The Asian champions lost a tactical battle to Korean world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae on the last day of the BWF India Open tournament.
The beating of inflated balloon sticks, blowing of trumpets and raucous cheering. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty – the only Indians to make the final day of the $850,000 BWF India Open – received a rousing welcome from a packed house at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.
Buoyed by the crowd, the world No.2 pairing made a start that delighted the spectators, crushing world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae of South Korea in the first game. But playing a second successive final for the first time on the BWF World Tour -- they were runners-up last week in the Malaysian Open -- the fatigued pair could not maintain their level in the next 45 minutes to lose the final of the Super 750 tournament.
World No.3 Seo and Kang won 15-21, 21-11, 21-18 in 65 minutes to improve their record to 2-4 against the reigning Asian champions. This was the third consecutive final loss for the Indians, who had also lost in the final of the China Masters.
Cheering every point won, Satwik and Chirag were egged on by the crowd to win more points at the start. Though it was neck and neck to begin with, the second seeds pulled away and easily closed the game thanks to Satwik’s booming smashes and brilliant anticipation at the net by Chirag.
Following discussions with their coach, the Koreans changed their ploy in the second game that changed the course of the match. They stopped lifting the shuttle to the back, playing midcourt and attacking the net, effectively taking out Satwik’s smashes from the back. They slowed down the game which also helped them in slower court conditions.
“Yeah, they weren't lifting initially in the first couple of points. We tried to play in between, tried to play a little too sharp which we could have lifted. They were quite consistent in their returns. They weren't really going out and hitting all guns blazing. They were dropping it initially and then waiting for the opportunity to kill,” said Chirag.
“We could have been a little calmer. Instead of playing it in between, we should have just lifted it higher and been ready for defence. We gave away some easy points initially and it was quite difficult to eventually come back.”
The world champions, who also won the BWF World Tour Finals last month, forced Satwik to play upfront, an area where his skills aren’t as great as Chirag's. As a result, errors started creeping in. From 7-5, the third seeds won nine straight points to reach 16-5 before closing out the game on the first opportunity.
The Koreans continued with their tactics in the decider too, drawing both Indians to the net before aiming for empty spaces to wrong-foot Satwik and Chirag and win points. Barring a brief phase at the start of the decider when the Asian Games champions led 3-2, Satwik and Chirag played catch-up for the rest of the contest.
At 12-7, it looked like the game had slipped out of the hands of Satwik and Chirag. But they took the fight to Kang and Seo -- the latter won the BWF Male Player of the Year award for claiming the men’s and mixed titles at the 2023 World Championships -- winning more points at the net.
In a contest of flat exchanges and faster reflexes, Satwik and Chirag fought back to come as close as 15-16 and 16-17 but many of their shots went into the net, handing crucial points to Kang and Seo. The Koreans maintained their game of placement and accuracy, catching the Indians off guard. A couple of wrong line calls and a lucky tape for the Koreans also didn’t help the home favourites.
Kang hammered in his smashes whenever he got a chance, forcing Satwik and Chirag to go defensive. The Koreans were good with their anticipation too which helped them reach championship point, which they converted when Chirag’s return went into the net.
“Overall, we are sad to lose the final in our home tournament. But there are a lot of positives. The last two weeks have been really good. Our thing is to keep our heads down and keep working on the big titles to come. We are still hungry and are not satisfied. We will start again in the next few days for All England and French Open," said Satwik.
The pair will not play the Indonesia Masters and Thailand Masters in the next two weeks and will return at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam from February 13-18 before playing in individual tournaments in Europe from March.
China's Shi Yu Qi and Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying won the men's and women's titles.
Final results (by order of play):
Mixed doubles: Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA) beat Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin (CHN) 21-16, 21-16
Women’s singles: Tai Tzu Ying (TPE) beat Chen Yu Fei (CHN) 21-16, 21-12
Women’s doubles: Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (JPN) beat Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu (CHN) 21-12, 21-13
Men’s singles: Shi Yu Qi (CHN) beat Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) 23-21, 21-17
Men’s doubles: Kang Min-hyuk/Seo Seung-jae (KOR) beat Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (IND) 15-21, 21-11, 21-18