Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered an opening-round exit in the China Open Super 1000 after losing to Muhammad Shohibul Fikro and Maulana Bagas of Indonesia on Wednesday at Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre’s Xincheng Gymnasium.
With Satwik and Chirag’s exit, the Indian challenge at the year’s fourth and final Super 1000 event came to an end. No Indian could progress to the second round. The Indian pair, currently ranked second in the world, lost to the world number 13 Indonesian duo of Fikri and Maulana 17-21, 21-11, 17-21 in a match that lasted for 68 minutes.
Satwik and Chirag are devastated by their first-round loss ahead of the upcoming Asian Games, which begin on September 23 in China. Satwik and Chirag were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships in late August. The setback on Wednesday further extended the Indians’ wait for the top spot in the BWF World Rankings.
Earlier today, the Indian mixed doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor were eliminated from the event after losing 15-21, 16-21 in the first round against the Malaysian combo of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
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