India’s no.1 men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fa a semi-final exit at the Malaysia Open 2025 in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
They were the only seeded pair left in the men’s doubles category at the competition.
The duo lost their semi-final match in a straight game (10-21, 15-21) affair to the South Korean pairing of Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae.
A Clinical all-round play from the Koreans
Satwik and Chirag had no answers to the exceptional net play of the Korean pairing, especially Seo’s precise placements on the sidelines troubled the aggressive play of the Indian players.
“They were playing well and we saw them playing well in this tournament, we were prepared but things didn’t go as planned and today was very slow compared to the last three days’ shuttles,” Satwik said in the mixed zone.
“It’s good learning for us and they were playing very well, it’s a bit disappointing but yes we have the tournaments to play” Satwik added.
Indian pair had a better start to the second game and were trying to play more rallies and with fewer errors, gaining a decent lead at the mid-game. But, the fortunes after the break as the Indian pair made a couple of unforced errors.
” We started to be a little bit calmer in the second game but we gave away a few easy points after 11-8 and they were serving well” Chirag expressed his views on the second game reversal.
What Next
The Indian pair will now move to the home tournament, The India Open Super 750, starting next week, hoping for a better result as they are the defending runners-ups of the event.
“We are excited for our home tournament and will try to play well and go as deep as possible in the tournament.” Chirag expressed his excitement for the home tournament.
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