For a pair that had arrived in Aichi-Nagoya with renewed confidence, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s Asian Games campaign ended almost before it had begun.
The defending champions and World No. 5 men’s doubles pair were stunned in the opening round on Friday, losing 21-12, 19-21, 14-21 to Thailand’s World No. 36 Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukhphun in a little over an hour.
It was a particularly jarring defeat given what had come before. Satwik and Chirag had been flawless in the men’s team event, beating reigning world champions Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in India’s semifinal against China earlier this week. They had also won the China Masters, bouncing back strongly after their quarter-final exit at the World Championships. Their progress had been watched closely after Satwik’s shoulder injury kept him out for a couple of months earlier this year.
Instead, the pair who had won India’s first-ever Asian Games men’s doubles badminton gold in Hangzhou are now out without a medal. The Thai pair played with pace and exceptional net control, keeping the rallies flat and denying the Indians the length they needed to unleash their trademark smashes. Satwik and Chirag were forced into errors and, after losing momentum in the decider, had no answer.
It was also their first defeat to the Thai pair in three meetings, with all three encounters going to a deciding game.
The shock exit is the latest and perhaps most striking example of India’s difficulty in defending some of the gold medals won at Hangzhou. India finished fourth overall at the previous Games with 28 gold medals and 107 medals in total. In Aichi-Nagoya, several of those titles have already slipped away, with some of the defeats coming in events where India had been among the leading contenders.
OTHER GOLD MEDALS THAT HAVE SLIPPED
- Equestrian, dressage team: India went from gold in Hangzhou to fourth in Aichi-Nagoya. Hriday Chheda was the only member of the 2022 gold-winning quartet to return, with Shruti Vora, Gaurav Pundir and Jai Sud completing the new-look team.
- Shooting, women’s 10m air pistol individual: India had produced a gold-silver sweep in Hangzhou through Palak Gulia and Esha Singh. In Aichi-Nagoya, there was no medal, with Manu Bhaker finishing fifth.
- Shooting, women’s 10m air pistol team: The defending champions finished fourth, tying Vietnam on 1719 points but missing bronze on inner-10s.
- Shooting, men’s 10m air pistol team: India went from gold to fourth, with Kamaljeet, Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve and Aakash Bharadwaj missing the final altogether.
- Shooting, men’s 10m air rifle team: India surrendered the title but remained on the podium, taking silver behind China after winning gold in Hangzhou.
- Athletics, women’s javelin: Annu Rani, the Hangzhou champion, is not competing in Aichi-Nagoya after being left out of the squad for failing to meet the qualifying standard. There is no Indian competitor in the event.
- Athletics, men’s javelin: Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion, is also absent after an ankle ligament injury ended his 2026 season. India have Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh in the event, but the gold medal may not stay in India.
India’s gold-medal tally in Aichi-Nagoya is currently only two, with women’s cricket and the Suruchi Singh-Kamaljeet mixed-team shooting pair providing the titles so far. Several major title defences remain alive, including men’s cricket, men’s and women’s kabaddi, so the final tally is far from settled. There are track and field athletes, who have headed into the Asian Games with form under their belt and can spring surprises.
But the early warning signs are difficult to ignore. India arrived in Japan looking to build on the 28-gold haul from Hangzhou. With some of their most established champions already beaten, and Satwik and Chirag suffering the most unexpected exit of them all, the road to matching that gold-medal count has become considerably more complicated.
– Ends
