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On Thursday, August 1, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in three games in the quarter-final of the men’s doubles badminton event at the Paris Olympics 2024. At the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, the Indian pairing went down in three games 21-13, 14-21, 16-21.
In the early stages of the first game, both the Indian and Malaysian pairings were neck-to-neck in scoring points, not allowing each other to get ahead in the contest. At the halfway break, Satwik-Chirag managed to find themselves in the 11-10 lead against Chia-Yik.
But then, the Indian pairing went up a gear with their play at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, securing 10 points in no time, to take the game 21-13. The second game started quite similarly to the first one with both pairings not giving an inch to each other.
Chia-Yik secured an 11-10 lead at the halfway mark in the second game before they brought their A game to the floor against Satwik-Chirag, taking it 21-14. With one game each to their name, the Indian and Malaysian pairing went into third and the final game with a spot in the men’s doubles semi-final on the line at the Paris 2024.
The third game saw Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty take an 11-9 lead at the halfway mark against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. At one stage, the Indian pairing were 16-15 ahead in the third game, but then, a plethora of errors allowed the Malaysians to win six points in a row in the crunch moments, to make the semi-final stage of the Paris Olympics 2024.
