Satwik-Chirag Analyze Semifinal Defeat at Badminton World Championships, Eye Future Improvements

Indian badminton duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in Paris after losing their semifinal match against China's Chen Boyang and Liu Yi with scores of 19-21, 21-18, 12-21 on August 31. The defeat prevented them from reaching their first-ever World Championships final, but their achievement maintained India's streak of winning at least one medal at every BWF World Championships since 2011.The Indian pair started strongly but couldn't maintain their momentum against the Chinese opponents. After dropping the first game 19-21, they fought back to win the second game 21-18, forcing a decisive third game.The Chinese pair dominated the final game with a commanding 9-0 start, ultimately securing their place in the final with a convincing victory."I didn't really get any rhythm. We didn't really get any rhythm. I think we didn't start off that well. We gave away very easy points. They were serving also quite well. But I think we should have been a little more smarter. But credit to them, they served quite well from the start of the third game," Chirag said after the match."I felt they played with much more confidence. Like we did in the past matches. Just maybe body language. They were a little more enjoying than us. Maybe in the first game when we were leading, even though they were down, they were just giving what they had. I think that's what we did in the previous matches," Satwik commented."We played really well in the patches, patches. Then again, in the third game, I think he (Chirag) got a good feeling. It's all a matter of confidence, how mentally strong you are. But in the third game, that stretch cost us. Maybe we would have done something different at that stage," Satwik added."I think they served quite well right from the start of the third game. I think we could have made a few changes here and there. Not really rush into the service because they were serving quite deep. But yeah, there was a credit to them that they could put us out of place," Chirag reflected on the third game.This bronze medal marks Satwik-Chirag's second at the BWF World Championships, following their previous bronze in the 2022 Tokyo edition."I think this week has been really good. Played some really good matches. Beat players there who we've not had a good record against in the previous matches. But yeah, sad that we couldn't play that final. We really wanted to play that final. But yeah, overall a good time," Chirag said about their achievement.