Badminton World Championships: Satwik-Chirag falter in quarterfinals | Badminton News

Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty keeled over under the weight of expectations in the quarterfinals as their nervous, scratchy attack ran into the compact defense of home heroes Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen at Copenhagen. Tipped to be favourites for the title, the second seeds suffered a shock 21-18, 21-19 defeat to the Danes, after their attack imploded into a pool of errors in 46 minutes.
The leads that the Danes took early in both sets gnawed at Indian nerves, and on the brink of a medal round, the perenial catching up in a stadium filled with crowds supporting their opponents, took its toll. Noone wins men’s doubles only on defense, but the Danes pretty much neutralised the Indian offense with their persent low picking of steep shots. While Astrup was fantastic zipping along the net to pounce on serve returns and the fourth shot initially, it was Rasmussen whose icy calm nerves handled the big moments on the bigger occasion.
The Indians had some outrageous winners like round the head deep cross smashes, and the rare times when Chirag sent a loopy one and Satwik blitzed next instance with a flat winner. But those were easily outnumbered the large number of errors that piled up, as they tried to open up the court. The Danish defense down the middle was sturdy, and it combined with Indians shying away from the lines as a bulk of early attempts to go for the backline swayed long. Whether it was the wicked sideways drift or just some rash wild hitting, Indians contrived to collect a lot of negatives as the shuttle went wide off bounds.

Satwik has high expectations for the mixed zone. 😂
India’s men’s doubles pair is just out there having a good time, enjoying the sport they love. ♥️ #BWFWorldChampionships@bwfmedia | @satwiksairaj | @Shettychirag04
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 25, 2023
The Danish defense was concise, and Rasmussen a cool cat both in the fore and midcourt, but it was the precise Danish scythes in attack that really harmed the Indians. Astrup would pounce laterally to the net in a jiffy, and with a side stance display brilliant net control in steering the shuttle cross into empty spaces. This wasn’t the flat, parallel attack that the Indians were prepared for in slow courts. This was all soft touches and wicked angles, as Astrup rushed at the net to kill got going.

Rasmussen with his squat defense and long reach was guarding the net well, though he could just as well track back and patiently see through an attack barrage in tandem. It was a strange situation where Danes weren’t attacking at all times, but still hoarding the points with precise placements. They would sense that Satwik hadn’t gotten going and pepper the area to the right of his hips and shoulder and draw out errors. A crucial giveaway was a service fault Satwik at 16-19 to give the Danes a buffer, and losing the opener shook the Indians who were 2-5 down in head to heads against this pairing.
Even when Astrup started roving the back court, Rasmussen kept it steady in the front, and then the southpaw started finding deft angles on the smash from the back. The occasion and the enormity had driven Chirag nervous as he remained a little tight, and when Satwik errors started, it threw him off even more.
The rare time the Danes were caught out of position was at 20-18 when they were both packed off to the back and Chirag attacked to the forecourt. But Rasmussen made prompt amends sending the next cross safely as a back winner.
The Indians would once again trail in the second, with Astrup juggling front and backcourt shuffling admirable, and Rasmussen sending the net pushes as winners. At 5-10, the Indians would say the shuttle had clipped Astrup’s shoulder, but get nothing from the chair. 7-11 in the second, Rasmussen was attacking steep. Coach Boe, aware of Danish defense, kept warning the Indians to be ready after an attacking stroke for the next one, but somehow they were getting frustrated that their own offense was running into a wall.Most Read
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Boe’s urging for them to explode also didn’t see a swing in momentum materialise, as the Danish attack pinged Satwik around the body. Chirag tried a flick serve to come to within 12-14, but the Astrup smash from the back kept wreaking damage. The Danes gifted a couple of errors and Indians levelled st 15-15. But an angled smash from Astrup and a Chirag nervous return in the net opened up a 16-18 lead.
Rasmussen would focus all his attacking energies on Satwik from then on, and draw out errors wide and into the net. Satwik would smash to make it 19-20, but Rasmussen had a handle on this and sent the third attack down the middle, squashing Indian hopes.
Their World No 1 aspirations will need to wait, but this serves as a wakeup call and good experience a year away from Olympics. Astrup-Rasmussen had been away from the circuit a fair bit this year, as have Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara. But all returned fresh and reinvigorated for the big one. Satwik-Chirag have beaten everyone in the Top 10. But at the biggest events, anyone can spring a surprise is the lesson learnt.