India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s hopes of winning a third medal at the BWF World Championships came to an end after they suffered a straight-game defeat to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles quarter-final in New Delhi on Friday.
The World No. 5 team of Indian duo had a difficult time in regaining their flow and finding their rhythm in front of the Chinese duo, despite their previous success at the World Championships back in 2022 and 2025. The third World-ranked pair Liang and Wang, who were women’s doubles silver medalists at the Paris Olympics, did not show mercy on their opponents but rather delivered a sensational result with 21-18, 21-9 win, in just 36 minutes.
Satwik and Chirag were more competitive in the first but couldn’t find the same level of focus against the veteran ones. The Indians lost the first game, then suffered from a tremendous lack of form in the second when Liang and Wang controlled the game, getting by with a narrow 18-21 margin.
The Chinese duo took the lead in the second game early on and never looked back. After a jolly end this side got round the game and eventually sealed their semi-final place with a 21-9 victory.
As per the results, India had the opportunity of winning a second doubles medal in the tournament with the loss. Satwik and Chirag were riding on high expectations after the Podium in World championship.
Notwithstanding their loss in the quarter final, the Indian duo’s World Championship record is impressive and the duo now has two bronze medals to their credit.
The team of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang confirmed their outstanding talents yet again following their triumph, as one of the top men’s doubles pairs in the world. They reached the middle of the India challenge in the men’s doubles draw following their clinical performance and could only leave the rest of the home fans wishing for a better performance from their side.