Indian, Dec 21 : India’s top men’s doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, saw their impressive campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 end in the semi-finals after a hard fought three-game loss to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang on Saturday.
The Indian duo went down 21-10, 17-21, 15-21 to the Chinese pair, settling for a bronze medal at the season-ending tournament.
Satwik and Chirag began the contest on a strong note, bouncing back from an early 4-1 deficit to dominate the opening game with aggressive attacking play and tight net control. Hoawever, the world No. 5 Chinese pair regrouped in the second game, pushing the match into a tense battle.
With the score tied at 15-all in the second game, Liang and Wang seized the crucial points to force a decider. The momentum firmly shifted in the third game as Wang Chang controlled the net exchanges while Liang Wei Keng’s sharp flick serves troubled the Indian pair, resulting in a relatively one-sided decider.
This defeat marked Satwik-Chirag’s eighth loss in 12 meetings against the Chinese duo, with five encounters coming in 2025 alone.
Ranked third in the world, the Indian pair had earlier topped Group B with three consecutive wins, becoming the first Indian men’s doubles team to reach the knockout stage of the BWF World Tour Finals.
The bronze medal is only the second medal for India in the history of the tournament. Former world champion PV Sindhu, who won the women’s singles title in 2018, remains the country’s only gold medallist at the prestigious event.