Star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dished out a badminton masterclass to storm into the final and inch closer to India’s first-ever badminton gold at the Asian Games here on Friday.
Earlier, HS Prannoy signed off with a bronze, India’s first medal in men’s singles in 41 years, after going down 16-21, 9-21 to reigning All England champion, China’s Li Shi Feng, in the semi-finals.
It was India’s second medal in men’s singles since Syed Modi claimed a bronze in the 1982 edition in New Delhi.
The world No.3 pair of Rankireddy and Shetty, which was part of the silver-medal winning Indian men’s team last week, produced a sensational show to outclass Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, Tokyo bronze medallists and former world champions, 21-17, 21-12 in 46 minutes.
The Indian pair thus became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to assure of a silver at the Asian Games.
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.
While the two sent down their booming smashes whenever there was an opportunity, Satwik and Chirag were also 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 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.