Chinese shuttlers were on the rampage at the $500,000 Hong Kong Open on Sunday, completing a sweep of the titles at the Super 500 event. They also dashed Indian hopes in the process as Lakshya Sen and the men’s doubles combine of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in the final at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
Looking to win his first title since the Syed Modi International last December, Sen faltered in the men’s singles summit clash, losing 15-21, 12-21 in 45 minutes to Chinese second seed Li Shi Feng. It was the former All England champion’s seventh win in 14 outings against the Indian, who has dropped to world No.20.
While the world No.4 clinched his second title of the year – he beat Kidambi Srikanth in the Malaysia Masters final in May – in addition to an Asian Championships bronze, it was an important tournament for Sen too as it was his first final this year.
Sen had been struggling for form the entire season, suffering eight first round exits in 13 events. The 24-year-old finally struck form, battling past quality opponents and higher ranked players to reach the summit clash.
Rankireddy and Shetty also lost in the final, defeated by familiar foes Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang with the Chinese sixth seeds winning 19-21, 21-14, 21-17 in just over an hour.
In a contest between two former world No.1 combines — both were looking to win their first title of the year — it was the world No.7 Chinese pair who took revenge for their last 16 loss at the Paris World Championships last month where Rankireddy and Shetty took bronze. Liang and Wang won their seventh meeting in 10 outings against the eighth seeded Indians.
Interestingly, all pairs the Indians had beaten earlier in the week were unseeded and lower ranked. In addition, the Chinese had won all their previous matches in straight games, spending on average just 33 minutes on court.
Rankireddy and Shetty had no such luck with the duo spending on average 56 minutes per match before the final. That eventually showed as the Indians ran out of steam in the last two games.
“(It has) been a good week, especially after the World Championships. A couple of weeks later here we are playing a final. It feels good. As every player would like, you would want to go and win that title. But credit to them, they played well. There’s always a next time, but overall happy with the performance,” said Shetty.
The loss meant the title drought continues for Rankireddy and Shetty, their last win having come in May 2024 when they won the Thailand Open.
