Tokyo Olympics: Satwik-Chirag win match but lose out on quarterfinal berth

Following the calculations of the difference between games won/lost, Indonesia tallied 5/2, Chinese Taipei 5/3 and India bowed out with a 4/3 tally.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy of India and Chirag Shetty of India in action during the match against Ben Lane of Britain and Sean Vendy of Britain.

The men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their last league match against Great Britain’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-17, 21-19 but lost out on an Olympic quarterfinal berth following a dramatic three-way tie for the two qualifying spots from Group A on Tuesday.

What broke the hearts of the Indians was the three-game upset of the top-seeded Indonesian pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamkuljo by the third-seeded Chinese Taipei duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin.

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Since Satwik and Chirag had beaten Yang and Chi-lin, they must have been hoping that the Indonesians would win the last match.

However, it was Yang and Chi-lin who posted a 21-18, 15-21, 21-17 victory over Gideon and Sukamuljo. The result left the pairs from Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, and India tied with a 2-1 record.

Following the calculations of the difference between games won/lost, Indonesia tallied 5/2, Chinese Taipei 5/3 and India bowed out with a 4/3 tally.

On the court, Satwik and Chirag let slip an early lead. However, the Indians finally broke free from 7-7 in the first game to take control. The Englishmen did close the gap to 17-19 but the

Indians did not allow them to get any closer.

In a close second game, Lane and Vendy raised visions of stretching the contest to the decider when they led 19-18. Once again, the Indians shifted gears, clinching the last three points and sealing the issue.