Reddy & Shetty put up a valiant fight before losing French Open final

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty std up a spirited fight against  top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia to go down 18-21, 16-21 in French Open bminton finals on Sunday night. Riding on high expectation after Indian pair h won Thailand Open in August becoming first Indian team to triumph at Super 500 level, duo fought back strongly in first set but lost out of steam in second.

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Aimed to create history

duo, who aimed to create history by becoming first Indians to win a Super 750 title on BWF circuit, were outplayed by ir opponents who were at ir aggressive best. Currently perched at a career-high World . 11 ranking, this runner-up finish with ir series of top-10 wins this week, will help m inch closer to highly-coveted top-10 spot and a berth at Tokyo Olympics next year.

Reigning world champions Mohamm Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, one of most experienced pairs to play sport, fell to Indians’ variety and superb teamwork. After securing ir biggest career win against World 2 duo, y kept that impressive run going against World . 8 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and World . 6 Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe to set up a summit showdown with World . 1 pair.

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Winning mentality and never-say-die attitude

It’s ir composure under pressure that has been very reason for ir continued success and rapid improvement, something Chirag Shetty himself pointed out. winning mentality and never-say-die attitude have set m on path to glory. At French Open, only Kidambi Srikanth has so far tasted success from among Indians ever since tournament was upgred to a Superseries level in 2007. 

Saina Nehwal was only or Indian to make it to final in 2012. Since new BWF structure came into place and French Open was given status of a Super 750 tournament, Nehwal has been only Indian to reach a final at this level which she did at Denmark Open last year. And, considering how Rankireddy battled his way back from a shoulder injury earlier in year and an illness in Denmark last week, y gave it ir all to etch ir names very close to record books.

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