Badminton World Championships: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy And Chirag Shetty Miss Out On A Medal

Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty missed out on a second World Championships medal after suffering a shocking straight-game loss to Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in the men's doubles semifinals on Friday. The world number two Indian pair, which had claimed a maiden bronze in the last edition, couldn't produce their attacking game and went down 18-12 19-21 to the 11th seeded Danish combination, the 2021 bronze winners, in a 48-minute battle. Coming into the match with a 2-5 head-to-head count, Satwik and Chirag, who last played the Danish pair in 2021, just couldn't get going as the local favourites, backed by a vociferous crowd, came up trumps.

Chirag found the going tough, while Satwik tried to keep India in the match as the duo levelled things at 15-15 after losing the opening game but the Danes proved just too good on the day.

Chirag started the proceedings for India with a whipping smash to Kim's weak serve but soon sprayed into the net too many times as the Danish pair led 5-1.

The Indian started to rotate the strike with Satwik unleashing a booming smash to make it 3-5. The lead for the Danes swelled to 9-5 with Satwik and Chirag committing unforced errors.

Kim charged into the net and produced some good interceptions to lead 11-6 at the interval.

Satwik produced a cross court smash before pouncing on a weak return near the net but a few soft errors and some superb play at the front court by Kim helped the Danish lead 15-9.

Chirag's mistimed lift was neutralised by two cross court smashes from the backline by the Indian as they brought down the deficit to 15-18.

A loose serve from Chirag was then disposed off by Kim. Satwik unleashed two jump smashes but he followed it