BWF World Championships 2026: How Liang-Wang Turned the Game Around Against Satwik-Chirag?

BWF World Championships 2026: The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty's challenge at the BWF World Championships 2026 came to an end after they were defeated by the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng/ Wang Chang of China in a 36-minute encounter in the quarterfinals here at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

The final scoreline read 21-18, 21-9. The duo were completely outplayed by the second game and conceded the game quite easily.

It was a very ordinary game for the Indian badminton duo. SatChi looked very scratchy at the front of the net as well. To pile on to the misery, there were a lot of unforced errors throughout the game, especially by Chirag Shetty, who was playing at the front of the court. The fact that his partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy wasn't in his complete form due to a lingering shoulder injury, the Maharashtra shuttler looked under pressure.

Earlier, the duo had received a bye in the first round due to their seedings. Their Round of 16 match was also stalled given that their Scottish opponents gave them a walkover. In the pre-quarter-finals, the Indian duo had secured a hard-fought win over the unseeded pair from Malaysia, Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King.

Even-Game In First Set

In the first game, it was an even game for both men's doubles pairings. However, the Indian pair took a slender lead during the midgame interval, 11-10. But as the game hit the 15-point mark, it became a closely contested game.

Towards the end of the first game, Chirag committed a lot of unforced errors during service and front court returns, which hit the net. The Chinese were intentionally playing fast and flat, which neutralised the smashing abilities of Satwik.

Wang in particular was good at the front of the net and controlled the front court. This rushed Chirag to the net, forcing him into defensive errors. Some of the errors came in those crucial points, which made the Indian duo play the catching-up game.

Chinese Shuttlers Went Offensive In Second Set

The Indian duo was outplayed completely in the second game against the Chinese, something which they acknowledged in the post-match media interaction: "They are everywhere. Wherever we are hitting, they are just playing their game. So, I think kudos to them."

One of the strong points that emerged was that the Chinese were good with their mid-court lifts and smashes. The Chinese shuttlers were cutting the rallies short and were smashing throughout the game, but increased their pace in Game 2. Naturally, the rallies were not that long. The problem of Chirag at the net was exposed heavily in the second game, and he committed a series of mistakes.

The Chinese capitalised on this and scored a streak of 5 points from 11-7 to 15-7. Towards the end of the second game, there was another burst of 4 points, and Satwik-Chirag could not even manage to reach the double-digit mark.

Injury has been one of the problems for the Indian pairing, because of which the duo has suffered a lot. Satwik-Chirag were out of competitive badminton since their triumph at the Singapore Open 2026, which was in May. Speaking about the injury, Satwik said, "Sometimes, I feel very good in one tournament. The next day, I feel very tight. The next day, I feel very burst."