Championship for all of England: “Tired” Satwik-Chirag make a subdued departure

World No. 1 Indian duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in straight games against Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia on Thursday night, so bowing out of the All England Championships men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals.

After winning the championship in 2022, the Indonesians defeated Satwiksairaj and Chirag 16-21, 15-21.

The top-seeded Indians, who had defeated their rivals at the French Open the previous week, lost in 44 minutes because they were unable to keep up the pressure on their third-seeded opponents. In their seven matches, Satwiksairaj and Chirag had suffered their third loss against the Indonesian duo. In a series of matches played in Malaysia in January, the Indian pair defeated Fikri and Maulana.

There was some fatigue, and we were unable to exert undue pressure on them. Although you can’t play finals every week, we made every effort to push them,” Chirag said.

Satwiksairaj-Chirag seemed to be a ghost of the winning pair from last week in Paris. Their frontcourt performance was lacking.

With some sharp smashes, the Indonesians quickly took a 4-2 lead and quickly extended it to 11-6. After that, they accelerated to 15–8, but the Indians scored four consecutive baskets to cut the lead to 12–16. The Indian pair held on till 16–19 despite Satwiksairaj’s struggles at the forecourt, but their rivals quickly turned on the afterburners.

The Indonesians were eager to secure the draw in the second game. They jumped off to an early 8-3 lead, but the Indians closed the gap to 6-11 at the half. Mathias Boe, the Indian coach, had been pleading for calm throughout.

It proved effective as Fikri hammered home the goal to make it 12-8 after an engaging revival. At 13–14, the Indians were able to close the gap to two points. But their opponents changed tack, taking a 17–13 advantage and winning five match points to close the game.