Satwiksairaj, Chirag crash out of French open

Paris: The Indian team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out of the men's doubles semifinals at the French Open badminton tournament here on Saturday.

The Indians gave a tough fight to the World No. 1 Indonesian duo of Kevin San jaya and Marcus Gideon before losing 12-21, 24-26.

This was the fifth encounter between the two pairs, all of which have been w on by the Indonesians.

The Indonesian took the early advantage when they opened up a 5-0 lead in th e opening game.

Although the Indians started to get their act together in the midway stage o f the opening game, it was not enough to stop their opponents from taking a 1 -0 lead.

The second game saw a tough, see-saw battle.

The Indian duo took a comfortable 5-1 lead before the world no 1 pair gradually started to close the gap.

The Indians however, were spot on with their defence and attacking combinations which made the going extremely difficult for Sanjaya and Gideon.

The Indonesian pair eventually managed to draw level at 17-17.

It was a neck and neck battle from there on with the lead changing hands aft er almost every rally.

The greater experience of the Indonesians eventually saw them through as the y held their nerves to claim a narrow victory.