CHENNAI : Over the years, doubles specialists, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, have flourished to become a difficult proposition for their rivals at the BWF circuit. They have predominantly been the aggressor and have choked their rivals out with their relentless badminton. But Saturday was a rare sight as the former World No 1 duo, taking part in the men's doubles semifinals of the ongoing Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, was handed the taste of their own medicine.
Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae, partnering for the first time in six years, operated like they have never been apart and stopped the Indian duo from imposing their playing style on them before going on to record a comfortable 21-10, 21-15 victory.
The circumstances are different though. With the Malaysia Open being the season-opener, this is an event where the shuttlers generally tend to ignite their engines before planning their drive ahead of a long gruelling season.
The road ahead generally tends to be bumpy and steep for most. Also, Satwik and Chirag have been away from the court for a while and they are looking to regain that spark after Paris Games heartache.
After a close opening exchange, the Korean pair gradually gained control of the opening game. After the first break, it was mostly one-way traffic with the Korean pair sealing the game with relative ease.
Satwik landed his trademark smash early on in the second game to show that the World No 9 pair still had plenty of fight left in them. With more urgency in their approach, the Indians entered the drinks break with a 11-8 lead. But the Koreans changed the narrative entirely by forcing the Indians to several errors before building on the momentum to seal a spot in the final of the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event.
Having set their sights on the top prize, the Indian duo was naturally downcast after this outcome. "They were playing well. We watched them playing in the earlier rounds and we had prepared but I felt they played very well today (Saturday). We could have followed a little bit of our game plan but kudos to them," Satwik told BWF media after the contest.
"The shuttle was very slow in the last three days and we shouldn't be complaining. It's part and parcel of the game and it was a good learning experience. We are disappointed but we have a long way to go and overall, it was a good tournament," he added.
When they upped their intensity level, the Indian pair found some joy in the second game. That was perhaps missing in large parts of the game on the day. Satwik said as much. "We played with calm and thought it (points) would come but we should have a little bit of attitude and played with a little more fire," he assessed.
The Indian duo will not get much time to reflect on this loss as the tournaments come thick and fast. With the India Open starting next week, they'll be hoping to course-correct and challenge for the title. "We're excited. Given it's our home ground, we really want to do well and go as far as possible," Chirag said.