Satwik-Chirag's Denmark Open run ends after semi-final loss to Japan's Hoki-Kobayashi

Odense [Denmark], October 19 : The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the ongoing Denmark Open 2025 tournament after losing their semi-final clash here on Saturday.

Satwik-Chirag fought hard but lost 23-21, 18-21, 21-16 to Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan at the Jyske Bank Arena in 68 minutes, according to Olympics.com.

This was the Indian duo's sixth semi-final defeat on the BWF World Tour this season. SatChi had made top-four exits at the China, Singapore, India, and Malaysia Opens, as well as the BWF World Championships, earlier.

The Indian badminton players, however, did make back-to-back finals at the Hong Kong Open and the China Masters last month.

Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, the 2021 men's doubles world champions and 2019 silver medallists, started off well and raced to an 11-6 lead in the opening game.

However, Satwik and Chirag, who are currently sixth in the badminton rankings, fought back to level the score at 20-all but couldn't see the fightback through, as the world No. 10 Japanese duo held their nerve to take the lead.

The Indians came back swinging in the all-or-nothing second game and led by four points at the midway stage.

Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who beat 2025 World Championships silver medallists Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi of the People's Republic of China in the quarter-finals, put on a sterner front after the restart but couldn't stop the Indians from drawing level.

With survival on the line at the BWF Super 750 tournament, both teams started the decider with high intensity and matched each other rally for rally, according to Olympics.com.

A sequence of four successive points saw the Indians lead by a solitary point at the break, but it was the Japanese duo who seized the initiative after the restart and ensured their second win over the Indian duo in six meetings.

The Japanese team's only head-to-head victory over the Indians before Saturday came at the 2019 Hong Kong Open. This was the sixth meeting between the two pairs but the first since the 2023 Korea Open.

Satwik and Chirag last won a title on the BWF World Tour event at the Thailand Open in 2024.

The duo's exit also brought India's campaign at the Denmark Open to an end.

Paris 2024 Olympics semi-finalist Lakshya Sen was knocked out after losing to world No. 7 Alex Lanier of France in his men's singles quarter-final match on Friday.

Ayush Shetty remains the only Indian badminton player to win a title on the BWF World Tour this year, courtesy of his US Open triumph.

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