Heartbreak in Paris: Medal hopeful Satwik-Chirag bow out in quarterfinals

One of India's biggest medal hopes, the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out in the quarterfinal at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday.

Currently ranked fifth in the world, Satwik-Chirag lost to long-time nemesis Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in a three-game thriller.

Aaron and Soh bounced back from a game down to win 13-21, 21-14, 21-16.

The defeat meant Satwik and Chirag went down two places in the BWF World Rankings and are currently ranked fifth.

Aaron and Soh, on the other hand, rose two places to be ranked third in the latest rankings.

The Indian pair started well with brilliant smashes and defensive strokes and won the first game 21-13.

However, errors started creeping in the Indian duo's game from the second game.

Aaron and Soh pushed themselves back into the court as the Indians continued to play a faster game.

They forced the Indians to shuffle positions and create spaces to finish the rallies. Chirag erring on the net and hitting shots wide didn't help as the Indian pair lost the game 14-21.

The final game started in a balanced way for the Indian pair and they went into the mid-game break leading 11-9.

But when they changed sides, the Malaysian pair rattled the Indians with a full-throttled attack. With Soh beating Chirag in service and forcing him to play wide, the Indians found it hard to score points.

With Satwik-Chirag knocked out, India's medal hopes in badminton would lie on double medalist PV Sindhu in women's singles and Lakshya Sen in men's singles.