Hong Kong: India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signed off with a runner-up finish after going down narrowly to China’s Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the final of the Hong Kong Open Super 500 here on Sunday.
The world No. 9 Indians, who bagged a second successive World Championships bronze last month, squandered a one-game lead before losing 21-19 14-21 17-21 to the sixth-ranked Chinese duo in a tense 61-minute summit clash.
“Been a good week, especially after the world championships a week later and here we are playing a final,” Chirag said. “You would want to go and win that title but credit to them, they played well as well. There’s always a next time and overall happy with the performance.” It was their first final appearance in 16 months since winning the Thailand Open, and the loss ended their perfect record in Super 500 finals, having won all four they had contested earlier.
The Indians, who have reached six semifinals this season, had a 3-6 head-to-head record against Liang and Wang coming into the match. They had beaten them at the World Championships in Paris. However, Satwik and Chirag failed to sustain the momentum after pocketing the opener and, having conceded an inexplicable 2-11 deficit in the decider, were left chasing the game.