Rankireddy-Shetty Crash Out as India’s Denmark Open Woes Continue

India's string of poor performances at the ongoing Denmark Open 2026 badminton tournament continued as the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also suffered a shock first-round exit on Wednesday. The fifth-ranked Indian pair went down to the world No. 37 Chinese duo of He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu 12-21, 21-15, 21-19, according to Olympics.com. Earlier, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also suffered first-round losses on Tuesday in the BWF Super 750 tournament.

Satwik and Chirag won the opening game comfortably, but the Chinese pair took control in the second, opening up an 11-4 lead at the interval before forcing a decider. The final game was closely contested, with the Chinese duo holding a slender 11-10 advantage at the mid-game break. They maintained their edge in the closing stages to secure a two-point win and register their first victory over the Indians in four meetings.

Ayush Shetty also suffered a first-round defeat, losing to Indonesia's Alwi Farhan 21-11, 13-21, 21-10. Alwi wrapped up the opening game comfortably, but Ayush responded in the second, taking an 11-8 lead at the interval and conceding just five more points to level the match.

In the decider, however, Ayush once again trailed heavily and was unable to recover. It was his fourth defeat in six meetings against Alwi.

Kidambi Srikanth is the only Indian left in the men's singles competition.

In the women's singles draw, Unnati Hooda also bowed out in the opening round, losing to China's Han Qianxi 23-21, 16-21, 21-16.

Meanwhile, Ashmita Chaliha and Devika Sihag will be in women's singles action later, while the pairs of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Rutaparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda will compete in the women's doubles event.

Original News: ANI

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