Satwik-Chirag prevail at Korea Open, win fourth title of the year

Indian badminton duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their dream run clinching the mens doubles title at the Korea Open with a gritty threegame win over top ranked Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in the final here on SundayThe World No 3 Indians rallied their way to a 1721 2113 2114 win over the twotime World Championships bronze medallists Alfian and Ardianto in a thrilling summit clash of the Super 500 badminton tournamentSatwik and Chirag playing their fourth final thus extended their winning streak to 10 matches and added another feather to their cap following their victory at the Swiss Open Asian Championships and Indonesia Open this yearThe Indian pair had a 22 headtohead count against Alfian and Ardianto but they had beaten the Indonesians on last two occasionsThe Indians looked a little subdued in the beginning as they lagged behind in the opening game but they recovered in the later stage narrowing a 1019 deficit with a sixpoint burst before falling shortHowever they found the momentum in the second game and dominated the proceedings thereafter to come up trumpsThe Indonesians played flat rallies at a high pace to open up a 42 lead early on The Indians were pegged back as Alfian and Ardianto didnt allow their opponents to mount their attackErrors also crept in as Satwik and Chirag conceded a sevenpoint advantage to their rivals at the breakThe Indians won a few quick points but the Indonesians managed to move away to 167 after Ardianto smashed one down the middleAnother downthemiddle smash from Ardianto took the Indonesians to 1911 Satwik and Chirag won next three points before playing an exciting rally which ended with the Indonesians going to the netA booming jump smash from Satwik further cut down the deficit to three points but he sent one wide to hand four game points to the IndonesiansThe Indians saved one with Chirags cross court return before Satwik sprayed one to the netThe second game started on an even keel with the two pairs engaging in some delectable rallies The Indians infused more power and pace into their game as they started to dominateThe Indians opened up a slender 64 lead after a Chirag interception and maintained it till 108 with Satwik unleashing his trademark smashThe Indian duo had a cushion of three points at the break when the Indonesians went wideA cross court return from the front court from Chirag took them to 1711Soon Satwik and Chirag grabbed nine game points They squandered two before Chirag sent one down the middle to take the match to the deciderSatwik and Chirag looked in control in the third game eking out a 96 lead before going into the interval at 118The Indians were more aggressive and managed to keep the world number 1 pair under the pumpAfter resumption a Chirag interception helped the Indians keep the threepoint lead at 1310 Alfian and Ardianto looked a pale shadow as nothing was going their waySatwik and Chirag also dominated the flat exchanges and soon it was 1812 for the Indians Alfian produced a superb backhand return but sprayed the next one to the net to hand over seven match points to the IndiansThey wasted one before converting the next and broke into a gangnam style dance to celebrate their victorySince pairing up Satwik and Chirag have won multiple titles including Commonwealth Games gold Thomas Cup gold bronze medal in World Championships and wins in Super 300 Syed Modi and Swiss Open Super 500 Thailand and India Open Super 750 French Open and Indonesia Open Super 1000With PTI inputsAlso Read lsquoSatwikChirag are favourites for Olympic medalrsquo Gopichand