Hangzhou, China: India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, saw their campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals come to an end after a semi-final defeat to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang on Saturday.
The Indian duo made a strong start by taking the opening game comfortably, but were unable to sustain the momentum as the Chinese pair staged a comeback to win the contest 10-21, 21-17, 21-13. The semi-final lasted one hour and three minutes.
Satwik and Chirag had earlier defeated the same opponents during the group stage of the season-ending tournament, but Liang and Wang produced a more composed performance in the knockout round to reverse the result.
Despite finishing the group stage unbeaten, the loss denied the Indian pair a historic opportunity to become the first Indian men’s doubles team to advance to the final of the prestigious World Tour Finals.
