China end India’s Asian Games badminton campaign in semis

India’s men’s badminton team settled for bronze at the Asian Games after losing 1-3 to China in the semifinals. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured India’s only win, while Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty lost their singles matches

Nagoya: Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty faltered against their higher-ranked opponents as the Indian men’s badminton team signed off with a bronze medal after going down 1-3 to nemesis China in the semifinals of the Asian Games here on Wednesday.

India had won the silver medal at the last edition in Hangzhou in 2023, where they had also lost to China in the final.

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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the only Indians to win a match as China once again got the better of India.

World No. 14 Lakshya, who had produced a stirring performance to take India to the semifinals, could not quite bring his A game, going down 16-21, 18-21 to world No. 6 Shi Yu Qi in the first singles as India fell 0-1 behind.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then produced a sensational performance to outwit Paris Olympic silver medallists and reigning world champions Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in the first doubles to bring India back into the five-match tie.

India levelled the semifinal 1-1 at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium.

A lot rode on young Ayush Shetty, but the world No. 20 could not maintain the required discipline and lost 19-21, 13-21 to world No. 12 Li Shi Feng in the second singles as India fell 1-2 behind.

The responsibility to keep India afloat then fell on Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun, who took on the scratch pair of He Ji Ting and Liu Yi in the second doubles.

The world No. 25 Indian pair gave it their all but could not tame Ji Ting, who was a last-minute replacement in the team following the sudden illness of Chen Boyang, and Liu, going down 16-21, 21-17, 9-21 as China sealed the tie and secured a place in the final.

Nevertheless, it was a creditable result for the Indian men’s team as they secured back-to-back Asian Games team medals for the first time in 40 years, following the bronze medals won in the 1982 and 1986 editions.