Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty capped off a memorable campaign with a historic bronze medal in the men’s doubles competition of the World Championships after going down narrowly to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the semi-finals here on Saturday.

The world No. 7 India pair, who had claimed the Commonwealth Games men’s doubles gold early this month, flattered to deceive as it squandered an opening game advantage to go down 22-20, 18-21, 16-21 to the Olympic bronze medallists in a pulsating 77-minute clash, bringing an end to the Indian challenge at the prestigious tournament.

It was the sixth successive defeat against the world No. 6 pair for Satwik and Chirag, who had lost to the same combination at the CWG mixed team final early this month.

Despite the loss, it was a creditable show by the duo, who emerged as the first Indian pair to win a men’s doubles medal at the showpiece event.