All England Open 2026: Satwik-Chirag face first round exit

BIRMINGHAM: The star Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced an early exit in the All England Open competition on Wednesday in the first round. The Indian duo lost to the unseeded, Malaysian duo of Aaron Tai and Kang Khai Xing in straight games, as per ESPN.

The first game was a well-fought affair, which Malaysia won 23-21, and after that, there was no looking back for them, as they won the second game 21-12.

NEWS FLASH: Satwik/Chirag knocked OUT in opening round of prestigious All England Championships!

Lose to WR 33 Malaysian pair 21-23, 12-21. #AllEnglandOpen2026 pic.twitter.com/IFTZ7vJckY

— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) March 4, 2026

Earlier on Wednesday, India’s Lakshya Sen created the biggest upset of the opening day of the tournament when he packed off top seed and defending champion Shi Yuqi of China in the men’s singles opening round.

Lakshya, the 2022 finalist in one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments, overcame the reigning world champion 23-21, 19-21, 21-17 in an hour and 18 minutes.

Also advancing to the second round were India’s mixed doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who overcame the Malaysian combination of Hoo Peng Ron and Cheng Su Yin 21-17, 21-19.

But the day undoubtedly belonged to Sen. The 24-year-old, whose only win over the Chinese before this match came in the Asian Games team championships, kept the pressure on his much-experienced opponent with an aggressive game plan in the opening game and looked like he could run away with the game after taking a 17-10 lead.

But Shi fought back to make it 18-17. Sen once again grabbed the initiative to earn three game points, but the Chinese not only saved those but also another one before the Indian pocketed the game.

Shi was the aggressor in the second game, and it was Sen who had to fight back from a 13-19 deficit. However, his effort was not enough to avoid a decider.

In the third and final game, Sen controlled the net brilliantly and also dominated the flat exchanges to open up a 16-11 advantage before earning four match points. Shi saved one of them, but his lift sailed long to hand the match to Sen.

Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod’s campaign ended with a 21-11, 21-6 loss against third seed Chen Yu Fei of China. (ANI)