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Journalism of Courage
Satwik-Chirag vs Seo-Kim, China Masters 2025 Highlights: India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down in straight-games on Sunday against world No 1 and recently crowned World Champions Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae in the final of the China Masters 2025, a Super 750 tournament. It is now back-to-back runners-up finishes for Satwik and Chirag after a hard-fought 45-minute final against the most in-form pair in the world as the Koreans clinched the championship with a 21-19, 21-15 win.
Earlier, the Indian pair made into their second final of the season with a commanding performance on Saturday as they dominated second-seeded Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, clinching a straight-games victory 21-17, 21-14 in 41 minutes.
Satwik-Chirag had earlier made it to the final of the Hong Kong Super 500 last week, where they lost in the title clash against China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in three games. That was their first final on the World Tour in 2025, having suffered a string of semifinal losses earlier in the season. This week in Shenzhen, Satwik and Chirag have been in ruthless form, not dropping a game so far on their way to the final. Read more about their semifinal win here. “In the first half of the year, we got a lot of breaks because of injuries and I think right now we both are in good condition, fingers crossed, and hopefully we’ll continue this form,” Satwik told BWF on Saturday.
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A sensational review from the Koreans after a shuttle was called in, they got that challenge perfectly right after Seo left the shuttle. One point game!
Chuckle. Remember how all those serves used to torture the Indians because they were ejected exactly from that trajectory just over the tape. Imagine reimagining it as returns / blocks. Too much fun.
But Seo beginning to read & hit back. He's too intelligent unfortunately.
Shivani Naik
HOW HAVE THE KOREANS WON THAT POINT! That is otherwordly defence. Chirag with his signature "maar, maar" early on in the point to Satwik, who does "maar maar" but the Koreans keep the shuttle in play. Chirag takes over at the backcourt and then one of his kill shots is into the net as the strings break.
And now the Koreans are fighting back. Chirag does well early in this longish rally to keep it going but the tempo has gone up from the Korean side. Satwik eventually drives the shuttle into the net.
Oh that is a SEO SEUNG JAE SPECIAL! Under pressure, he produces a sensational direction change with a subtle change of his racket head.
China Masters: Satwik-Chirag defeat Chia-Soh twice in a row, reach back-to-back finals with dominant win
You wait so long for one, then two come along in quick time. This was the sentiment last week at the Hong Kong Open, when Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Lakshya Sen ended long waits to reach a final on the BWF World Tour. It was doubly true on Saturday in Shenzhen at the China Masters. Firstly, Satwik-Chirag reached back-to-back finals after a string of semifinal exits. Secondly, they have now registered back-to-back wins against Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik – a pair that has caused them many a heartache in the past – with a supremely confident performance, prevailing 21-17, 21-14 in just 41 minutes.
After their run to the semifinals at the World Championships in Paris – during which they beat Chia-Soh in the quarterfinals, also in straight games – the Indians told this daily in an interview about the second stint with coach Tan Kim Her being different to the first. When the Malaysian, along with Pullela Gopichand, decided just under a decade back to break up their then partnerships and pair them together, it was all about following the master’s instructions. Now, it’s a two-way street. “We were very young, we used to just follow him, whatever he told us. We just used to listen to him. But now, it’s two-way. We share our things, what is working and what is not working,” Satwik had said. It was interesting to see how that played out in the semifinal, too.'
