Newly crowned Thailand Open champions and world number one badminton duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, faced an early exit in the BWF Super 750 event at the Singapore Open on Tuesday, May 28. (More Badminton News)
The top-ranked pair fall to a straight sets defeat 22-20, 21-18 in a 47-minute clash, against the Danish duo, Mads Vestergaard and Daniel Lundgaard, marking a disappointing tint in their otherwise stellar season.
During the game, Sat-Chi fell behind 6-11 at the break but staged a fine recovery to claw back at 17-17 after some tight rallies. However, a precise return on the sides from the Danish was cancelled out when they made a judgement error at the backline. Daniel sprayed Satwik's serve into the net, and soon Mads did the same as the Indians grabbed two game points.
Sat-Chi, are strong contenders for gold at the Paris Olympics 2024. With their consistent high performance they mathematically secured their qualification. This is India's best hope for a long-awaited Badminton top podium finish at the Summer Games.
The Paris Olympic Games 2024 are just around two months away, and the India's Olympic-bound shuttlers will have three more tournaments Australian Open Super 500, Indonesia Super 1000, and Canada Open Super 500 to test their racket before the biggest stage.
Other Indians on court on Tuesday also faced defeat, in different categories. Aakarshu Kashyap and Priyanshu Rajawat also failed to cross the opening hurdle in singles competition.
While world no. 41 Kashyap lost 7-21 15-21 to Thailand's Pornpicha Choeikeewong, ranked 42nd, Rajawat fought hard before going down 21-23 19-21 to Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu.
Women's doubles pair, Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda also played their heart out before losing 12-21 21-12 13-21 to Chinese Taipei's Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun.
