Asian Games 2026: The Indian Men’s Badminton contingent had to settle for a bronze on September 23, Wednesday in the current Asian Games 2026 edition in Japan.
The star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registered India’s only win as they beat reigning world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in straight games in the doubles bout.
Asian Games 2026: Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty suffer defeats
Lakshya Sen lost the opening match 21-16, 21-18 against Shi Yuqi. Lakshya started strongly, but Shi fought back to take the first game. The Indian shuttler also challenged in the second game, drawing level at 16-16 before the Chinese player closed out the match, according to Olympics.com. Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Games men’s doubles champions, then produced a strong performance against the world No. 3 Chinese pair. The Indian duo dominated the opening game and held their composure in the second after the Chinese pair saved two match points to make it 20-20. Satwik-Chirag converted their third match point to level the tie at 1-1. Ayush Shetty then went down 21-19, 21-13 against world No. 12 Li Shi Feng, giving China a 2-1 lead.
With India needing a win in the fourth match, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun faced He Ji Ting and Liu Yi. However, the Indian pair lost 21-16, 17-21, 21-9, ending India’s hopes of reaching a second successive men’s team final. India had assured a medal after defeating hosts Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals, with Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag and Ayush Shetty winning their respective matches.
India, which won a silver medal at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games, finished on the podium for the second consecutive edition but missed out on place in the final. At the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, India won the silver medal after losing 3-2 to China in the gold medal clash. India’s only gold medal has come from the women’s cricket team as they crushed Sri Lanka by a mammoth margin of 147 runs in the final on September 22, Tuesday at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. The men’s team, led by Shreyas Iyer, will also be expected to successfully defend their gold.