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Satwik-Chirag lose in semifinals

By The Assam Tribune

FUZHOU, Nov 9: The Indian men�s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty�s impressive run came to an end after they lost to three-time defending champions Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the semifinal of USD 700,000 China Open here on Saturday.

The world number 9 Indian pair lost 16-21, 20-22 to the top seeds and world number one Marcus and Kevin to bow out of the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament here. This was the eighth successive loss for Satwik and Chirag against the Indonesian pair.

Satwik and Chirag, who had won their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August before reaching the finals at the French Open Super 750, played their hearts out during the 40-minute final but it was not enough in the end.

This was Satwik and Chirag�s third loss this year against the world number 1 pair.

The Indian duo opened up a 7-4 lead early on but they lacked the angles in their attack as their opponents managed to enter the break with a 11-9 lead after Satwik faltered with his return.

Kevin was simply brilliant near the net as the Indonesian duo quickly jumped to 14-9.

The Indonesian pair dominated the fast-paced rallies but Satwik and Chirag kept fighting to stay within an arm�s distance at 15-17.

An error from Satwik gave their opponents five game points. The Indians saved one before Chirag sent one to the net to concede the opening game.

In the second game, Satwik and Chirag again had a 3-1 advantage before Marcus and Kevin clawed their way back and went neck-and-neck till 6-6. � PTI

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