New Delhi: Shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty finished as runners up, losing the final against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Sang Jae at Indian open here on Sunday. Satwik and Chirag, the Asian Games champions, went down 21-15 11-21 18-21 to Kang and Seo tightly-fought encounter which stretched for 65 minutes at the KD Jadhav Indoor stadium.
Earlier, the Indian pair, winner of the 2022 edition, had failed the clinch the Malaysia Super 1000 title last week. They faced one of the toughest opponents like Korean duo, though they boasted a 4-1 head-to-head count in five meetings coming into the match with the latest being at the Malaysia Open last week.
The hosts displayed their skills and amazing reflexes, showing some breath-taking rallies and relentless hitting in the opening game, keeping the Korean pair under the pump.
After the first half break, Chirag dazzled in the front court with some brilliant net interceptions, taking their lead from 11-9 to 19-13 after the break before pocketing the game when the Koreans netted a shot.
However, the Indian duo didn’t start well, made few sloppy mistake in the second set as they were lagging behind by 1-5, but change of pace and angled returns powered them to reduce the difference to 5-7 with Satwik continued to impress with his producing points with a net kill.
A couple of net errors from Chirag during flat exchanges gave the visitors a six-point advantage and then the Koreans defended well, while Indian duo was seemed doing desperate efforts, losing a bit of sting as Kang and Seo grabbed a 10-point advantage at 15-5. The Koreans held 10 game points till the en, roaring back into the contest, equaling the set one all.
In the third and final set, the Koreans kept the momentum going claiming a fivepoint lead till the interval by not allowing the Indians to play their natural game. However, After the change of sides, Satwik stepped up at the front court and soon the momentum started to change in India's favour with the world champion pair committing a service error and then finding the net, bringing down the equation to two points at 13-15. Satwik then sent one to the corners, while Chirag unleashed a smash as one point separated the two pairs at 15-16.
A superb low shot from forehand corner from Satwik was negated by Chirag's net error. Kang then then showed his class to clinch the title.
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