Asian Games champion Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s bid for the fourth BWF title of the season failed as they lost to China’s world No. 1 pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in three games in the double’s final at the China Masters badminton tournament in Shenzhen on Sunday.

The World no 5 Indian duo went down fighting to Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 19-21, 21-18, 19-21 in 69 minutes to miss out on their fourth BWF title .Chirag and Satwiksairaj , who won all of their matches in straight games on way to the final, trailed at the start of the BWF Super 750 final.

The Indians repeatedly found the net on several returns, trailing 3-8 in the early exchanges. A stronger defensive play from Chirag and Satwiksairaj enabled them pair to beat Liang and Wang in the longish rallies and drew level at 9-9. However, the Chinese maintained their aggressive style, to claim the opening game in 19 minutes.

The Chinese younger than the Indians continued to force errors out of the rivals and led 9-5 in the second game. However, Chirag and Satwiksairaj used their heights and reach to good effect and went into the break with a slender 11-10 lead.

The Indians consolidated their lead after the mid-game interval and led 16-12 at one stage. They looked in trouble with the Chinese pair closing the gap to just one point at 19-18 but managed to win the last two points to take the match into the decider.

The Indians were overwhelmed at the start of the third game, trailing 9-2. Chirag-Satwik went into the final break with an 11-6 deficit.

Chirag and Satwiksairaj won the first two points after the change of ends in the decider but Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang continued to play aggressively to have seven match points at their disposal. However, the Indians did not drop their shoulders and saved six match points before finally losing out on the final rally.

The Indians won the Swiss Open in March, the Indonesia Open in June and the Korea Open in July. They also made history by winning India’s first gold medal in badminton at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month and in April, won the Badminton Asia Championships.

The loss on Sunday was the first time the Indian pair was defeated in the summit clash this year.

Results at China Masters 2023 will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.