India's top-ranked badminton pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the Malaysia Open 2024 final on Sunday, January 14. Indian pair was defeated by the world no.1 Wang Chang and Liang Weikeng of China in the men's doubles final by 21-9, 18-21, 17-21 in the first BWF Super 1000 tournament of the season.
After winning Gold in the Asian Games and the Indonesia Open 1000 title last year, the in-form Indian duo dominated the first game against Liang-Wang. Indian par was too powerful for their Chinese foe and registered the first game by 21-9 with five consecutive points to take the lead.
However, the world no.1 pair displayed a remarkable comeback in the second game by taking an early 11-6 lead. Satwik-Chirag took the game to the wire but the Chinese pair walked away with a 21-18 win to level the match at Kuala Lumpur's Axiata Arena.
Chirag was impressive with his smashes in the third and decider game that gave India an early 2-0 lead and kept Liang-Wang under pressure. The Indian duo recorded straight five points forcing their opponent for errors and stretched the lead to 10-3.
But once again, the Chinese pair justified their top ranking to level the game to 12-12. Both Chirag and Stawik made some forced errors and conceded the lead for the first time after game point 13 and were trailing by 14-16. Chirag seemed lost with his judgement to tackle the reverse serves and Indian pair managed to make a comeback.
This was the fourth defeat for Satwik-Chirag against the world no.1 Liang-Wang. The Chinese pair also defeated the Indian stalwarts in the semi-final of the 2023 Malaysia Open and another win will stretch their top spot in the BWF men's doubles rankings.
