Mumbai Mumbai. Indian men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fell to Korea's Jin Yong and Seo Seung Jae in three games to reach the semi-finals of the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament on Saturday. The former world number one Indian pair, competing in their first event after the Paris Olympics, which had reached the final in the last edition, could not maintain the pressure in the 74-minute encounter and lost 18-21, 21 to the unseeded Korean pair. Lost -14, 16-21. There was a tough competition in the opening game, in which both the pairs made strong rallies. At the mid-game interval, Satwik and Chirag had a slight lead of 11-10. The Indians then took a 15-12 lead as Jin struggled to maintain momentum during the short rallies. However, a service fault call against Chirag and a lucky net cord for the Koreans helped them level the score at 16-16.
The left-handed Korean pair picked up the pace, took a 17-16 lead and eventually took the game after Chirag's return found the net. In the second game, the Indians played with energy, leading 8-6 They won a thrilling 47-shot rally before staying to extend their lead to 15-10. The lead increased as the Koreans made two quick errors at the net and Satwik and Chirag came back into the contest.
The final game started with Chirag getting called for a service height fault once again. At 2-3, he displayed excellent defence, keeping the rally alive by falling to the floor before hitting the point home. However, Seo An excellent defense by K.K. put the Koreans ahead 11-7 at the interval. Trailing 7-13, the Indian team made a strong comeback and won six out of the next seven points to reduce the gap to 13-14.
They kept the pressure on and were tied at 15-16, but the Korean team held its own and extended their lead to 18-15. Seo's sharp smashes and hidden returns earned four match points for the Korean pair. Earned, who took the fight with another powerful smash.
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