KALLANG (Singapore) : The world No. 1 badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a shocking early exit in the first round of the ongoing Singapore Open 2024 on Tuesday.
After lifting the Thailand Open last week, Chirag and Satwik fell short against the 34th-ranked Danish pair of Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard.
In a contest that lasted for 47 minutes, the Indian pair lost the game in two straight sets by a scoreline of 20-22, 18-21. The opening round match in the BWF Super 750 tournament marked the first time the two pairs faced off against each other. The top seeds were on the quest to lift their third title after their success in the Thailand Open and French Open earlier this year. They struggled to match the pace of their opponents and ended up trailing by 9-4 early in the first set. But they lived up to their tag of world no. 1 pair, mounted a comeback, and managed to make the scoreline level at 20-20.
The Danish pair managed to take back-to-back points to take a 1-0 lead in the game. The second set was also a closely fought contest. Both pairs fought neck-to-neck till the scoreline read 16 each.
But Vestergaard and Lundgaard shifted through gears to clinch the second set by 21-18 and complete the upset win.
In the women’s singles event, Aakarshi Kashyap crashed out of the competition after losing to Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong 21-19, 22-20.
World No. 29 Priyanshu Rajawat also bowed out after fighting against the 18th-ranked Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, China, by a 23-21, 21-19 scoreline in men’s singles.
Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda in their women’s doubles clash against Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun managed to take the game to third set. Eventually, they lost 21-12, 12-21, 21-13 in women’s doubles which ended their campaign.
Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh’s mixed doubles campaign also wrapped up following a 21-8, 21-17 defeat against Hong Kong, China’s Lee Chun Hei Reginald-Ng Tsz Yau.
Singapore Open 2022 champion PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy will begin their campaign on Wednesday. (ANI)