Satwik-Chirag enter final, keep first-ever gold medal hopes alive

Hangzhou: An error-prone HS Prannoy signed off with an Asian Games bronze, India’s first medal in men’s singles in 41 years, but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept alive the country’s hopes of a first-ever badminton gold after cruising into the men’s doubles final here on Friday.

Satwik and Chirag, ranked world no. 3, dished out a badminton master-class to outclass Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, Tokyo bronze medallists and former world champions, 21-17, 21-12 in 46 minutes of dominance.

The Indian pair thus became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to assure of a silver at the Asian Games. The duo was also part of India’s silver-medal winning men’s team last week. Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallists, will face Korea’s Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the final on Saturday. The Indians have a 2-0 record against the Koreans.

While the doubles pair was simply sensational, Prannoy, who was playing with a back niggle, succumbed in a pool of errors, going down 16-21, 9-21 to reigning All England champion, China’s Li Shi Feng, in the semifinals earlier in the day to sign off with a maiden bronze.

It was India’s second medal in men’s singles since Syed Modi claimed a bronze in the 1982 edition in New Delhi.

Satwik and Chirag came into the match with a dismal 1-8 record against the Malaysians but it didn’t matter as they sent down their booming smashes whenever there was an opportunity and also were good with their angles and placement.

The two pairs fought tooth and nail from the first point to 10-10 before Satwik produced a smash to take a one-point lead at the break. On resumption, the Indian pair showed better anticipation and quickly extended their lead to 16-10 before grabbing six game points.