Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – Chirag Shetty managed to down World champions, Liang Weikeng – Wang Chang in the men’s team semifinals at the Asian Games. But the straight set losses in singles by Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty meant the doubles win was undone swiftly as India settled for bronze.
China won the tie 3-1.
Sen didn’t quite get going against Shi Yuqi, losing 21-16, 21-18 in the opening singles. The belligerent Chinese was in good attacking touch and swamped Sen completely to give the China the first lead.
While Satwik-Chirag pulled one back 21-11, 22-20 against Liang-Wang, the subsequent second singles saw Ayush Shetty implode 21-19, 21-13 against Top Tenners Li Shifeng as he failed to connect his steep smashes and was trapped into the high-lift lure. India stumbled 1-2 by then.