Shenzhen: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the men’s doubles title at the China Masters, a BWF Super 750 tournament, here on Sunday.
The world No. 5 Indians, who finished runners-up in 2023 and 2025 and reached the semi-finals in 2024, registered an 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 win over the Chinese.
Satwik-Chirag, who missed out on a third BWF World Championships medal after a quarter-final exit in New Delhi last month, won their 10th career title on the BWF World Tour. It is their second Super 750 title this year and their fourth overall.
The reigning Asian Games men’s doubles champions became the first Indians to win the tournament since its 2005 inception. This marks Satwik and Chirag’s third BWF World Tour final of 2026. They finished runners-up at the Thailand Open in May before winning the Singapore Open later that month.
He and Ren made a blistering start, racing to a 5-0 lead and putting the Indians under pressure. Satwik and Chirag tried to fight back, but the Chinese stayed ahead 11-5 at the break and kept control of the game, winning the opener 21-11 in 18 minutes.
The second game began in similar fashion as China took an early 2-0 lead, but the Indians fought back to level the score at 3-3 and 6-6. Satwik and Chirag then took control, leading 11-7 at the break. Some powerful smashes helped extend Indian’s lead to 17-11. The Indians held off a late comeback to win 21-13, forcing a decider.
The Chinese came out strongly in the decider, opening up a 4-0 lead. The Indians fought back to tie it at 7-7 and took an 11-9 lead at the break before the Indians edged ahead 9-8 and carried an 11-9 lead into the final interval.
Satwik and Chirag held their nerve, winning four straight points to secure a 21-17 victory and take the title in a 70-minute thriller.
(IANS)
