The journey of world number-1 Indian pair Satwik-Chirag ends in All England Championships

India’s world number one pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out of the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals of the All England Badminton Championship here on Thursday night. The Indian pair lost 16-21, 15-21 to Indonesian pair of Mohammad Shohil Fikri and Bagas Maulana in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indonesian pair were champions here in 2022.

The top seeded Indian pair had won the French Open title last week but here the third seeds could not deal with the pressure of their rivals and were eliminated after losing in a match that lasted for more than an hour. The pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa also crashed out of the round of 16 in women’s doubles. They had to face defeat from China’s Zhang Shu Jian and Zeng Yu 21-11 11-21 11-21. On Friday, India’s Lakshya Sen will face Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the men’s singles quarterfinals.

Lakshya entered the quarterfinals with a 24-22 11-21 21-14 win over world number three Anders Antonsen. But two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu’s campaign ended with a 19-21 11-21 defeat to world number one An Se Young of South Korea.