Well, that's that from the world of badminton.
Switch over to some more India vs China action at the Women's Asia Cup hockey final. Blog here.
Journalism of Courage
Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag, Men’s Singles Hong Kong Open Badminton Final 2025 Highlights: Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lose in the finals of Hong Kong Open Super 500 on Sunday. Sen went down in straight games against China’s Li Shi Feng 15-21, 12-21 in just 45 minutes. his was Lakshya’s first final since the Syed Modi Super 300 last November but his wait for a Super 500 title since 2023 Canada Open continued. Lakshya had earlier beaten world No 6 Chou Tien Chen in a thrilling straight-games semifinal that ended 23-21, 22-20 in the Indian’s favour. TThe match against Chou might have ended in straight games but it wasn’t straightforward, as the players provided a throwback to Paris 2024, where the Indian had won in three games, in another match filled with highlight-worthy rallies. In the final, Lakshya faces a familiar foe in Li Shi Feng for the 14th time in a rivalry that dates back to their junior days. Read more about Lakshya Sen’s win here.
Earlier in the day, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in three games against China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles final. After winning the first game, Satwik-Chirag couldn’t continue the momentum as they lost 21-16, 14-21, 17-21. This was the 10th meeting between the two former world No 1 pairs, and Liang-Wang now lead the H2H 7-3. For Satwik-Chirag, this was the first final of 2025, breaking a streak of semifinals defeats. Read more about Satwik-Chirag’s semifinal performance here.
Well, that's that from the world of badminton.
Switch over to some more India vs China action at the Women's Asia Cup hockey final. Blog here.
Shivani Naik: They couldn't at Paris (at the Worlds). But China complete clean sweep at Hong Kong. 5/5. 7 finalists. Gill Clark says the first-such in World Tour era.
LI SHI FENG WINS!
Perhaps fittingly he does so by playing a lovely crosscourt net shot.
One match point saved, as Li gets too eager to close the match out with a big smash. But nets it.
NINE MATCH POINTS. Li Shi Feng leaps and nails his crosscourt smash.
Shivani Naik: An anti-quibble against Lakshya Sen. He doesn't leave shuttles that are easily swaying, drifting out. Like, he should. It's opposite of Sindhu. But court drifts are wicked. Players know best.
Another brilliant Lakshya Sen winner, as he goes crosscourt with his forehand block...
...there just hasn't been enough consistency though.
Shivani Naik: 10-17. Perfect rally. Bamboozles LSF. Maybe too late. But worth encores.
Well, that might be the point of the match and it is won by Lakshya. A furious , almost men's-doubles-esque rally, as Lakshya and Li play out a flat exchange before Lakshya pounces on a loose lift to play a nice cross drop winner.
It's just a procession now. The brief fightback from Lakshya has been snuffed out, mostly by his own racket.
It's a big lead for Li now as Lakshya sends a couple of shuttles long beyond the baseline.
Shivani Naik: What Sen needs is long rallies though. Very difficult with LSF. But that's where variety in strokes from back of court which he's working on, matters. LSF is tiring but he can hit his way out of onset of exhaustion
LONGEST RALLY: 33 shots! Patience from LAkshya, keeps the shuttle in play steadily, and as Li goes hard with the smash to Lakshya's backhand flank, he responds with a lovely crosscourt block. A good winner that.
Shivani Naik: One of the underrated advantages of 'height' and range, is playing shuttle from close to the net while standing further back. Keeps movement to back of court fluid like LSF has managed, without losing shot control at net. Chen Long won an Olympic with that long lever against Lee Chong Wei
Mishits from both Lakshya and Li in back-to-back points as they both go at each other with body attacks.
In the short term, the answer to that question is no. Lakshya actually plays a really well constructed rally at 7-10 but Li once again troubles Lakshya at the net.
That's probably the best smash that Lakshya has hit in this match. Down the line to Li's forehand side.
And now another good winner from Lakshya going crosscourt from the deep forehand corner and nailing the crosscourt whopped smash. Can he build on this?
Shivani Naik: Lakshya Sen is not a mercurial player. His confidence is mercurial though, if it makes sense. One error can bring on a flurry of those and wipe out his leads. He doesn't - just a theory - go lax or complacent. On the contrary, he tries too hard to not make mistakes. And makes them anyway. From 4-1 to 5-9.
Will that help Lakshya turn things around? Indecision at the backline from Lakshya, as he takes the shuttle at the very last moment. But somehow keeps the rally alive with more good defending before Li completely mishits his smash after his strings broke.
And once again Lakshya is frittering away a good start from his own mistakes. A run of 7 straight points for Li after Lakshya went up 4-1 and the body language is not good from Lakshya.
Commentator Gill Clark confirms that the drift is now behind Lakshya, so he will be hitting with the drift, meaning the lifts and clears are going to be difficult to control, even though his smashes will work better from this side. At least they should.
As we say that, a super point from Li to level things up at 4-4.
Good start once again, like the opening game, from Lakshya. He is finding the corners on the backcourt better from the far side.
Shivani Naik: 15-18. One of the better points constructed by Sen. Wrongfoots LSF, and casually pops shuttle back with a loopy lift. But the LSF smash comes with a period. A '.'
It's not a pretty mic drop. He just smashes the electronics out of working. Two of those to give LSF a 21-15 opener.
Here's how the opener panned out.
Opening game to Li Shifeng, after Lakshya actually started as the better player. Li's domination at the net combined with the lack of control from Lakshya.... and it escalated quickly for the Indian.
Not sure if it's got to do with the drift, but Lakshya just hasn't been able to get his lengths right in the opening game, constanstly pushing the shuttle long.
Five game points for Li Shifeng after a bog smash to Lakshya's backhand side.
A bad review from Lakshya (think he knew it too) as he sends the shuttle well beyond the baseline while trying to push Lo back once more.
Shivani Naik: It's a strange arena this at Kowloon Hong Kong. Stands are nice, wide spacious seating. But the playing arena is hemmed in, claustrophobic length wise. Aptly called Coliseum
Another net exchange goes Li's way. This time Lakshya tries to take a leaf out of his opponent's book by taking the shuttle early close to the tap but overdoes it and sends it long.
The Indian gets the serve back with a good body attack, this is now pretty much no-mistakes territory for him.
From 9-10 down, it's pretty much been as Li Shifeng. On a run of 7 out of the last 8 points.
Ya, this is definitely getting concering for Lakshya now. With Li once again keeping it tight at the net, Lakshya tries to push him back and then his lift is too long. He is losing the net battle clearly.
Well, of course, as we say that he plays two good points at the net. This time, Li's attempted kill at the net goes just long.
Two really good points for Li right out of the interval. Lakshya makes the errors again but it was great play from Li to begin with as he dug out two really good lifts from the net to the backcourt when Lakshya tried to draw him forward.
Shivani Naik: That explosive stride at the net from Li Shifeng is doing all the damage. It's usually the stomping ground of Sen. The Indian is defending as well as he can (which is very good), but precision from the net is where this will be decided. LSF is going for the lines - and missing - so he's wary of Sen defense. But the World No 20 needs to evade Chinese range. That one flat furious exchange saw Sen giving the shuttle right in LSF's hitting zone
Why Ashwini Ponnappa believes ‘ambitious’ Satwik-Chirag can beat Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik again and push Koreans Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho
She rarely or never mentions the significance of it, but Ashwini Ponnappa was right there when India kickstarted the habit of winning medals at World Championships. In 2011, she began the streak with Jwala Gutta, and then went on to be an all-weather well-wisher and true-blue teammate to a pair that has been the biggest doubles story of the last decade – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
“They have risen above the challenges of the past year. We are rooting for them to do even better,” she says with granite-solid loyalty that stems from closely watching your people struggle and then beat back the odds.
