India Open: Satwik-Chirag bows out in semi-finals

Delhi: Much revered Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the India Open Super 750 tournament in the semi-finals at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.

It was the anti-climatic exit as the Indian pair lost in straight games 18-21, 14-21 to the world number 2 pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin in front of more than 3,000 home fans.

The first game started with a rapid pace as both pairs started picking points due to the opponent's error.

Both pairs exchanged 18 points in the first six minutes with Rankireddy and Shetty leading 10-8, courtesy of some smashes and beautiful drops from both the players.

The Malaysians were performing well and took three consecutive points to lead 11-10 at the mid-game break.

At 12-12, the Indian pair raised the tempo with Shetty placing his drops brilliantly to induce errors from Goh and Nur.

The intensity of the game was so high that the Indian pair committed three consecutive errors to hand three points to the Malaysian pair with the game level at 15-15.

The Indian pair conceded four more points as Shetty missed two returns. Rankireddy then hit one wide and the Malaysian pair hit one straight smash to lead 19-15.

Shetty took consecutive points with his placement to make it 17-19 before one shot from Satwik trickled to the other side after hitting the net to make it 18-19.

Shetty missed one return and Rankireddy hit the shuttle on the net to lose the first game 18-21.

The second game started on a poor note for the Indian pair as they lost five straight points owing to a superior net play by the Malaysian pair.

Goh and Izzuddin were the better team as they continued to milk points with their smashes and raced to an 8-3 lead.

However, the Shetty and Rankireddy came back strongly, winning five points with their impeccable winners and quick pushes to induce errors from Goh and Nur.

The Malaysian pair went into the mid-game break with a lead of 11-10.

Errors crept into the gameplay of the home duo post the mid-game break as they conceded consecutive points from 14-14 to record their second semi-final exit of the season.