Birmingham, March 5 (UNI) India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a first-round exit at the All England Open Badminton Championships after going down in straight games to Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai on Wednesday.
Competing at the Utilita Arena Birmingham, the fourth-ranked Indian duo lost 23-21, 21-12 to the world No. 33 Malaysian pair, as per Olympics.com.
Satwik-Chirag started strongly and built an 11-6 lead at the interval of the opening game before the Malaysians fought back to level the scores at 16-all. Kang and Aaron, the 2024 junior world champions, then edged ahead and, despite the Indians saving two match points, eventually sealed the game in a tie-break.
Carrying the momentum into the second game, the Malaysian duo dominated proceedings, leading 11-7 at the break and conceding only five more points to wrap up the match comfortably.
The defeat also marked the end of India’s men’s doubles campaign at the prestigious tournament.
In other results, India’s Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde lost 21-12, 21-15 to France’s fifth-seeded pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue in the mixed doubles event.
Meanwhile, 2025 US Open champion Ayush Shetty bowed out of the men’s singles draw after losing 21-19, 9-21, 17-21 to Indonesia’s world No. 14 Alwi Farhan.
India’s women’s singles campaign had already ended earlier after both Malvika Bansod and Unnati Hooda suffered opening-round defeats.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu had withdrawn from the tournament after being unable to reach Birmingham in time due to travel disruptions in Dubai.
However, India had a bright moment on the opening day when Lakshya Sen stunned world No. 1 Shi Yuqi to advance to the second round.
