Badminton
Tokyo Olympics: Why Satwik-Chirag got knocked-out of medal contention even before match began?
Unfortunate turn of events as Satwik-Chirag discover that they can't progress further at the Tokyo Olympics after The Minions suffer a shocking loss.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy at the Tokyo Olympics (Source: Getty)
Things came unwinding all too soon for the World No. 10 badminton pair from India of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as they discovered that they were out of medal contention even before their final Group A match started.
Going up against the World No. 18 British duo of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, Satwik-Chirag realised that their Tokyo Olympics journey will come to an end as they are no longer going to be in the Top 2 spot of their Group.
Group draws can get unkind and being placed in the 'Group of Death' in Men's Doubles, Satwik-Chirag knew they had to play every match carefully.
Even though the young Indian pair got off to a strong start in their debut match against the World No. 3 pair from Chinese Taipei of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin and went on to win it, their fates were marred by a loss at the hands of the World No. 1 Indonesian pair of the Minions in their second group match.
The Minions choked at the last minute
In Men's Doubles, only the top 2 teams of the groups are allowed to head into the quarter finals of the Tokyo Olympics. All along, Satwik-Chirag were placed second in the race after the Minions pair of Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.
However, the World No. 3 pair from Chinese Taipei handed the Minions a sore defeat in their encounter today, just minutes before the Satwik-Chirag clash began against Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. Losing 18-21, 21-15, 17-21 to the Taipei pair, the Minions ended up pushing the Indian pair to the third spot as the World No. 3's overtook their place.
Based on the matches so far, Indonesia and Taipei have 2 wins so far but even if the Indian pair wins now in straight games, they won't have a chance as Indonesia and Taipei have fared better in the games, numbers wise.
This brings us to the sad and unfortunate end of the Men's Doubles campaign for the Indians. With Sai Praneeth also suffering a similar fate in his draw and out of medal contention, it is only PV Sindhu, the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist who remains in the fray.
