Taiwanese shuttlers Yang Po-han and Lu Ching-yao on Sunday settled for the runners-up spot at the BWF French Open after losing to India’s Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the men’s doubles final.
Taiwan’s world No. 25 pair were defeated by the world No. 8 Indian pairing in straight games, 21-13, 21-19, in their first-ever matchup that lasted 49 minutes at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris.
Despite the defeat, it was the Taiwanese duo’s best performance in World Tour Super 750 tournaments.
Photo: CNA
Yang said after the match that Shetty and Rankireddy were in better form and had dominated.
“After our coach talked to us, we slowly improved, but in the end we still missed out on a bit of luck. We still have to work on being more consistent,” Yang said.
Lu said that they did not keep up with their opponents from the start of the match, which made them fall behind early.
“What we did very well today is that even when the situation was not good for us, we kept going, and although we didn’t win, we learned a lot in the process,” Lu said.
The Taiwanese pair trailed early as their Indian opponents picked up the first five points of the opening game to set the tone.
Shetty and Rankireddy played an aggressive style of badminton to stay ahead for the whole game and close it out with ease.
In the second game, Yang and Lu could not halt the Indians’ momentum as they trailed 11-5 at the interval.
The Taiwanese pair did manage to tie the game at 14-14 and even had a 19-17 lead, but Shetty and Rankireddy then secured the next four points to win the game and the title.
Meanwhile, in Santander, Spain, Taiwan’s Kuo Kuan-lin on Sunday snagged a gold medal at the BWF World Junior Championships after outdueling S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian of India in straight games in the men’s singles final.
World No. 685 Kuo defeated world No. 110 Sankar Muthusamy 21-14, 22-20 in the men’s singles final at the Palacio de Deportes de Santander, taking 48 minutes to claim Taiwan’s second-ever men’s singles gold at the tournament.
It was also Taiwan’s third gold in the under-19 tournament after Cheng Shao-chieh won women’s singles gold in 2004 and Lu Chia-hung won men’s singles gold in 2015.
Kuo, who ousted top seed and world No. 79 Alex Lanier of France in the quarter-finals on Friday, started the final on the front foot by playing aggressively to reach the mid-game interval with a 11-8 lead.
However, Kuo let his advantage slip away momentarily as Sankar Muthusamy clawed his way back to draw level at 13-13, but Kuo rallied to win the next six points and then proceeded to close out the opening game 21-14.
Kuo also started the second game aggressively, reaching the break at 11-9. Sankar Muthusamy tried to engage the Taiwanese shuttler in long rallies in an attempt to wear down his powerful smashes, but Kuo powered on to lead 20-14.
Sankar Muthusamy then fought back by saving six match points to level the score at 20-20, but Kuo came back with two strong smashes to seal the win and secure the title.
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