‘They Were Everywhere’: Liang-Wang Leave Satwik-Chirag’s World Championships Title Hopes In Tatters

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s bid for a World Championships medal on home soil came to an abrupt end on Friday, with the fifth seeds suffering a straight-games defeat to third-seeded Chinese pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the quarter-finals.

The Indian pair, backed by a vocal crowd at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, lost 18-21, 9-21 in 36 minutes. The defeat ended their hopes of adding a second medal for India at the tournament, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand remaining the country’s sole medal contenders.

Satwik and Chirag looked in control for large parts of the opening game. They went into the interval with an 11-10 lead and extended their advantage to 14-11 before China gradually clawed their way back.

The Indians were still ahead at 18-16, but the momentum shifted at the most crucial stage. Three errors from Satwik and Chirag allowed Liang and Wang to take four straight points and pocket the opening game 21-18.

The second game was a completely different story.

China immediately applied pressure and raced to an 8-3 lead. Satwik and Chirag struggled to reproduce the attacking intensity they had shown earlier, while Liang and Wang repeatedly absorbed their attacks and turned defence into offence.

The Chinese pair led 11-5 at the interval and continued to pull away after the restart. The gap reached 15-7 before Liang and Wang moved to match point at 20-9. They closed out the contest on the next point to complete a straight-games victory.

'They Were Everywhere'

Chirag felt the first game had gone according to their plan, but losing it gave the Chinese pair a psychological advantage.

"We played well in the first game," Chirag said, adding that Liang and Wang became tougher to handle once they had taken the opener. Their ability to defend difficult shots and immediately turn those rallies into attacks proved particularly frustrating for the Indians.

Satwik, meanwhile, felt the Chinese pair caught them off guard with their approach.

"They were everywhere. Wherever we were hitting, they were just playing their game," Satwik said.

The Indian shuttler explained that China had adopted a more aggressive, all-round approach than the one India had anticipated from their match analysis. Instead of simply looking for lifts to attack, Liang and Wang kept pushing the shuttle and disrupting India's preferred patterns.

Chirag also highlighted their opponents' dominance in the front court.

"They were defending quite well, and also dominating the front court," he said.

Satwik also provided an update on his shoulder, revealing that the issue has been bothering him for a long time and requires constant management.

“Sometimes I feel very good, and the next day I feel very tight or even at my worst. It’s complicated with my shoulder, but I just need to manage myself and play.”

“I got six good weeks of rehab and strengthening. I was worried about how my shoulder would respond after playing for more than 80 minutes yesterday, with less than 24 hours to recover. But today I felt pretty much okay, which is a good sign coming back from injury.”

The loss brought Satwik and Chirag’s campaign to an end, but India’s medal streak at the World Championships remains alive.

Earlier on Friday, Treesa and Gayatri pulled off a major upset by defeating fourth seeds Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in three games to assure India of a medal. They are now the only Indian pair left in the competition.

India’s run of winning at least one medal at the World Championships dates back to 2011, when Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta claimed bronze in women’s doubles.