Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s hope of winning the maiden Malaysia Open Badminton title went up smoke as they lost to the world No. 1 Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 21-9, 18-21, 17-21 in the double’s final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

In a marathon title clash between the World’s top two seeds ,that lasted one hour and 58 minutes, Satwiksairaj and Chirag ,despite taking the lead came up second best to the Chinese’s pair. The Malaysian meet was the first tournament of the 2024 badminton season.

The Indians who lost the China Masters final to Keng and Chang last year, started final on a very promising note ,displaying some aggressive game to take an 11-4 lead heading into the break.

The Indians worked well in tandem and quickly picked out the gaps in the rivals defence to swing the momentum in their favour. They sustained with their high-pressing game after the restart and unforced errors from Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang only helped their cause. The Indian duo closed out the opening game in just 13 minutes and set themselves up with the lead.

The world’s No. 1 Chinese duo regained their Rythm in the second game . They looked more decisive with their shot-picking and managed to build up a five-point advantage before the interval.

Following the restart, though, Chirag-Satwik began to chip away at the Chinese duo’s lead and reduced it to just one point at 19-18.However Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who lost in the Malaysia Open final last year to Indonesia’s Ardianto and Alfian, however, just about managed to hold on to force a deciding game.

Shetty set the tone for the decider with a searing smash and Rankireddy followed suit with one of his own as the Indians made their intent clear early on. The Asian Games champions broke out the big shots for the occasion and led 10-3 at one point.

Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, however, recovered brilliantly and drew parity at 12-all before taking the lead at 14-13. From that point onwards, Keng and Chang took control of the match and closed out the contest in just under two hours.

This was Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s fourth loss to the Chinese duo in five meetings.

Results at the Malaysia Open will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.