Japan Open: Satwik-Chirag duo crashes out in second round
Indian shuttlers continued to struggle at the Japan Open, with Lakshya Sen and the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowing out in the second round of the Super 750 badminton tournament on Thursday.
World No. 18 Lakshya’s inconsistent run resulted in a 19-21, 11-21 defeat to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in a men’s singles match that lasted close to an hour. The 23-year-old, who had impressed in the opener with a commanding 21-11, 21-18 win over China’s Wang Zheng Xing, failed to carry the momentum forward.
In men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag suffered a 22-24, 14-21 loss to the fifth-seeded Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in a battle between former world No. 1 combinations. With this win, Paris Olympics silver medallists Liang and Wang extended their head-to-head lead over the Indians to 7-2.
After a slow start, the Indian pair rallied to take an 18-14 lead but could not capitalise, as the Chinese duo clinched a thrilling first game. Liang and Wang maintained their dominance in the second game, exploiting errors in the Indians’ smashes and defence to hand Satwik and Chirag their fourth straight defeat against them.
