Opening Stretch in Decider Cost Us

WITH spring in their steps, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty employed every tool in their arsenal in their pursuit for greatness.

- ANMOL GURUNG @Chennai

WITH spring in their steps, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty employed every tool in their arsenal in their pursuit for greatness. A good dose of textbook smashes, some mind-bending returns and the duo also exhibited their tenacity. But at the latter stages of their men's doubles semifinal contest at the World Championships in Paris on Saturday, they hit a dead end.

Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi, their opponents in the last-four stage, upped their game to outfox the Indians with flick services. The Chinese duo seemed to have figured out the Indian duo's Achilles heel, mixing their tactics well. It was unreal and sort of an anti-climax given that Satwik and Chirag had fought their way back into the contest by pocketing the second game. Within minutes, the score read 9-0 in the Chinese duo's favour.

The Chinese pair was also—for the large part—impenetrable in their defense, adding to Satwik and Chirag's frustrations.

It was just the opposite for Liu and Chen, ranked World No 11, as they were visibly pumped. Liu also landed a couple of backhand smashes to lift the crowd at the Adidas Arena.