Untimely exit: Chirag and Satwiksairaj went down in the second round.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
While most Indians fell by the wayside in the second round of the India Open badminton, the biggest heartbreak was that of the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the title favourites and World No. 3 pair, going down to the Japanese tenacity of Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita in a performance they would want to forget.
The Indians, who last won a title on the World Tour way back in May 2024 at the Thailand Open, struggled throughout and paid the price for their inconsistency. A contentious call against them at a crucial moment in the third game did not help matters, but that was the least of their problems.
“The officials said I touched the net, but I didn’t feel anything. It was a crucial point and things could have gone either way,” Satwiksairaj admitted. The Indians were trailing 15-16 at that point, although they did take off four more points after that, it was simply an indication of the kind of day they had.
The duo was honest enough to admit that it was not the reason for its defeat. “We didn’t play well, it was a patchy performance, and we were not up to the mark. Yes, it takes time to adjust in the first game [they had never played their opponents before] but I think we didn’t play the right game,” Chirag admitted.
The Indians took time to get off the block, struggling with the conditions. While Satwiksairaj agreed that getting a first-round walkover meant they hadn’t played for three days, he insisted that was not the reason for the defeat. “It was kind of tricky, we wanted to do well, but we played a patchy game with some good points and really off others,” he said.
“We were pushing a bit more and they were good in counterattack. It takes a while to adjust to a new stadium, but I don’t want to give any excuses; we just didn’t play well. We were a bit hesitant and when it got close, we held ourselves back instead of being more proactive. We should have finished in the second game when we were leading 17-14. I think it’s time we need to buck up and focus on the next tournament,” Chirag added.
Next up for them would be the Badminton Asia Championships next month, a crown they won in 2023, hoping to turn around their extended title drought.
Published – January 16, 2026 06:51 pm IST
