Badminton, Olympics 2024: Satwiksairaj-Chirag’s medal hopes end in heartbreak

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have a special love affair with Paris. It was their runner-up finish at the 2019 French Open Super 750 which first put them on the badminton map.

Three years later in 2022, they won their first career Super 750 title at the French Open. In 2023, they competed as world No 1s for the first time at the French Open, finishing as the runner-ups. Earlier this year, they reclaimed the title in Paris – their first title of the season.

But every rise has its fall. On Thursday, Rankireddy and Shetty’s drop ended in heartbreak.

Up against the Malaysian men’s doubles team of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik – a pair they have traditionally struggled against – Rankireddy and Shetty went down 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 to crash out of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Indians, seeded third, were outplayed in their own game. Rankireddy and Shetty had employed the flat, fast paced style of play to perfection against Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Adrianto in their final Group C match but in the quarter-finals, Chia and Soh just did it better.

Having raced away with the opening game in just 17 minutes after a scratchy start, Rankireddy and Shetty played right into the hands of the Malaysians for the...

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