NEW DELHI: It was quite an anti-climatic finish. A match that promised so much for India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ended on a tame note. In the final act, Satwik misjudged a disguised flick serve by his opponent on Saturday and that sealed the Indian duo's fate in the ongoing Indian Open here. The score on the big screen read 21-18, 21-14 in favour of Malaysia's Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, their opponents on the day. It was certainly not what the fans were hoping for.
Just 30 or so minutes before that development, the former World No 1 partnership had walked into the playing arena here at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall and the crowd had lost their voice while rooting for them. It was an ideal setting for the home duo.
But the Malaysian pair turned out to be spoilsports for the fans. The fast-paced match finished with a score-line of 21-18, 21-14 in just 37 minutes. The Malaysian duo (ranked World No 3) were sharp, especially in front of the net, and never let Satwik and Chirag gain control of the proceedings. They regularly employed the flick service to upset the Indian duo's rhythm.
"I think we started pretty well. Compared to the last few days, today (Saturday) the shuttle was very fast. Whoever was controlling the net, they are getting the points. They controlled it much better in a way. So if the shuttle would have been a little slow, maybe we would have woken up and played a little bit more of a rally game," Satwik told reporters.
In the second stanza, the Indian duo, after going behind 2-8 at one stage, showed signs of revival and went level on points with their opponents. However, the Malaysian pair remained as cool as cucumber to navigate a tricky phase to cut short Satiwik's and Chirag's lifeline. Chirag felt they could have handled the service better. "It was probably the service situation, I think we could have been a little calmer, we didn't really expect so many flicks going into the game. Especially from 15-12 (Game 1)..Then we were receiving quite well but I think we should have been a bit calmer," Chirag later said.