Indian shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's dreams of securing a maiden Olympic medal came crashing down after a heartbreaking three-game loss to Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the men's doubles quarterfinals at the Paris Games. (Full Olympics Coverage|More Sports News)
One of the favourites for the gold medal, Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Games champions and Commonwealth Games winners, squandered a first-game advantage to go down 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a hard-fought quarterfinal against the world number 3 Malaysians.
Aaron and Chia, the 2022 world champions and Tokyo Games bronze winners, will face world number one and top seed Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the semifinals.
The Indians entered the contest after stitching three successive wins against the Malaysians in the last three meetings.
Aaron and Chia had defeated the Indians eight times on the trot before those victories but none would hurt more than this loss as it came on the world's biggest stage.
Expectations were high from the two Indians given the pair's domination with four final appearances and two titles at the French Open and Thailand Open this year.
Carrying a billion hope, Satwik and Chirag, the former world no. 1, almost brutalized the Malaysians in the opening game with their aggressive display, but Aaron and Soh changed the tactics thereafter, bunting their attack and playing a more flat-fast game. Some defensive lapses also cost the Indians dear.
