New Delhi: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s fight fizzled out in the quarter-finals as they went down tamely to Chinese third seeds Chang Wang and Liang Wei Keng 21-18, 21-9 at the BWF World Championships here.
Midway through the second game, the crowd that was vociferously cheering for the home team lost its voice. The sinking feeling was also visible in the body language of the two players in the middle. Errors flowed from their racquets, and there were no signs of a dramatic late comeback. It was China all the way in the second game. There was no such thrill, though, at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here. But Satwik’s shoulder injury forced them into first-round retirements in Japan and Indonesia. Over the last week, they focused on rehab and shouldered India’s challenge at home in the World Championships. When it came to the smashes, Chirag took on the bulk of the responsibility. Satwik’s famous full-blown jump smashes were missing, not that the Chinese gave them too many opportunities. Chang and Liang kept playing a fast-paced flat game. The Indians, too, were caught in China’s tactics and didn’t really try to slow things down or push the shuttle behind. With the crowd behind them, the Chinese were also making errors. Chirag’s unforced errors proved costly as China took the first game. In the second game, they just cruised past Satwik and Chirag.
In their head-to-head meetings, Chang and Liang have a 9-4 advantage over the Indians, but Satwik and Chirag beat them at the World Championships last year at the same stage, and their Thomas Cup match this year went down to the wire. Liang and Wang started aggressively, taking a 4-1 lead, but India came back well. India were catching up and at 18-18, it was moving towards a fast finish.
Before the event, they spoke about regaining complete fitness but also stressed that match situations would be the real test.
