India’s men’s doubles badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty expressed their disappointment after their quarterfinal exit from the BWF World Championships, held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, on August 21.
Reflecting on the match, Chirag Shetty noted the Chinese pair’s consistent high level of intensity throughout the contest.
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Add TNM on Google“We had a good lead, I think probably three-four points, and it’s never easy playing against them.
It feels bad, but I think to be playing a World Championship at home feels special,” Chirag added.
India’s men’s doubles badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty expressed their disappointment after their quarterfinal exit from the BWF World Championships, held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, on August 21.
The duo were defeated in straight games by China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, losing 18-21, 9-21. Reflecting on the match, Chirag Shetty noted the Chinese pair’s consistent high level of intensity throughout the contest.
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“We had a good lead, I think probably three-four points, and it’s never easy playing against them. The shuttle will be travelling extremely fast because they play a very solid high-pressure game,” Chirag told reporters. He added, “I think a couple of points here and there, and eventually it became back and forth, and eventually we lost the first game. In the second, I think we tried coming back, but the quality that they had was quite high.”
Chirag also mentioned that several strokes they expected to finish did not go their way, and praised the Chinese pair’s defence under pressure: “A lot of the strokes which we expected to finish, didn’t, and even the blocks that they were doing were quite good.”
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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy commented on his physical condition, stating that his shoulder did not trouble him during the match and that he was regaining confidence after returning to competition. “It was fine for today’s match. Yesterday it was a little bit more intense. I could recover it pretty well. So it wasn’t bothering me much, but it’s just a little mental thing for me to open up and play fully because it’s been a while since I played a match,” he said. “I was getting better and better, I was getting confident, but there was no pain, just stiffness, so it’s just normal,” he added.
Chirag acknowledged the disappointment of the defeat, particularly with the World Championships taking place in India after a long period and the strong support from the home crowd. “Definitely, it would hurt. We are playing a World Championship on our home soil, to see such a huge crowd turn up and cheer for us, obviously feels sad,” he said. “But in the circumstances that we came in, I think we gave it our all. It feels bad, but I think to be playing a World Championship at home feels special,” Chirag added.
The pair received significant support from Indian fans throughout the tournament.
