Hangzhou, Oct 6: An error-prone HS Prannoy signed off with an Asian Games bronze, India’s first medal in men’s singles in 41 years, but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept alive the country’s hopes of a first-ever badminton gold after cruising into the men’s doubles final here on Friday.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked world no. 3, dished out a badminton master-class to outclass Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, Tokyo bronze medallists and former world champions, 21-17, 21-12 in 46 minutes of dominance.
The Indian pair thus became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to assure of a silver at the Asian Games. The duo was also part of India’s silver-medal winning men’s team last week.
Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallists, will face Korea’s Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the final on Saturday. The Indians have a 2-0 record against the Koreans.
While the doubles pair was simply sensational, Prannoy, who was playing with a back niggle, succumbed in a pool of errors, going down 16-21, 9-21 to reigning All England champion, China’s Li Shi Feng, in the semifinals earlier in the day to sign off with a maiden bronze.
It was India’s second medal in men’s singles since Syed Modi claimed a bronze in the 1982 edition in New Delhi.
Satwik and Chirag came into the match with a dismal 1-8 record against the Malaysians but it didn’t matter as they sent down their booming smashes whenever there was an opportunity and also were good with their angles and placement.
The two pairs fought tooth and nail from the first point to 10-10 before Satwik produced a smash to take a one-point lead at the break.
On resumption, the Indian pair showed better anticipation and quickly extended their lead to 16-10 before grabbing six game points.
A service error from the Indians and then a deceptive stroke from Soh helped Malaysia save three game points before Aaron sent his forehand into the net.
The Indians came out all guns blazing with the pair mixing defence and attack seamlessly to zoom to 11-3 at the interval.
The two showed great coordination, moving smoothly back and forth with Satwik displaying his superb defence and Chirag complementing him.
Satwik and Chirag kept dominating the rallies with their anticipation and interceptions and grabbed 10 match points after winning a net duel, and converted in the third attempt.
Still suffering from the recurring back injury that he picked in training before the event, India’s H.S. Prannoy went down to China’s Li Shifeng in the men’s singles semifinals at the Asian Games to settle for a bronze medal here on Friday.
Operating at 50 percent of his capacity, Prannoy lost 16-21, 9-21 in straight games to bag India its second medal in men’s singles — after a gap of 41 years.
Syed Modi had won a bronze medal in men’s singles in the 1982 games in New Delhi.
Prannoy had a decent lead in the first game but could not capitalise on that as the Chinese 23-year-old played a superb game and did not commit many mistakes. This is Li Shifeng’s first win against Prannoy in four matches.
Prannoy had the advantage at 8-3 in the first game but Li Shifend maintained the pressure and clawed his day back into the game and caught up with Prannoy at 14-14.
The 31-year-old Prannoy made some tactical changes in the game, but could not implement the strategy and went down 16-21. (Agencies)
