Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – Chirag Shetty managed to down World champions, Liang Weikeng – Wang Chang in the men’s team semifinals at the Asian Games. But the straight set losses in singles by Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty meant the doubles win was undone swiftly as India settled for bronze.

China won the tie 3-1.

Sen didn’t quite get going against Shi Yuqi, losing 21-16, 21-18 in the opening singles. The belligerent Chinese was in good attacking touch and swamped Sen completely to give the China the first lead.

While Satwik-Chirag pulled one back 21-11, 22-20 against Liang-Wang, the subsequent second singles saw Ayush Shetty implode 21-19, 21-13 against Top Tenners Li Shifeng as he failed to connect his steep smashes and was trapped into the high-lift lure. India stumbled 1-2 by then.

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India had lost the last team event in 2023 Hangzhou 3-2 to China as well.

In the fourth rubber, second doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun went down 17-21, 21-17, 21-9 to He Ji Ting and Liu Yi, a scratch pair that China fielded. Both are World championship medallists with other partners. The mid set resistance was impressive, but the last set was a blowout.

India had a disappointing showing in singles across men and women eventually. While Lakshya and Ayush had secured the big win and assured medal against Japan, they went down without a fight to China. So while the bronze is owed to them, they couldn’t push further to get into the final.

It had been an issue in the women’s team too, as India lost all three singles.