Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 23 : The Indian men’s badminton team secured a bronze medal at the Asian Games 2026 after suffering a 3-1 defeat against the People’s Republic of China in the semi-finals in Aichi, Japan, on Wednesday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registered India’s only win of the tie, defeating reigning world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in the men’s doubles match.
Lakshya Sen lost the opening match 21-16, 21-18 against Shi Yuqi. Lakshya started strongly, but Shi fought back to take the first game. The Indian shuttler also challenged in the second game, drawing level at 16-16 before the Chinese player closed out the match, according to Olympics.com.
Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Games men’s doubles champions, then produced a strong performance against the world No. 3 Chinese pair. The Indian duo dominated the opening game and held their composure in the second after the Chinese pair saved two match points to make it 20-20. Satwik-Chirag converted their third match point to level the tie at 1-1.
Ayush Shetty then went down 21-19, 21-13 against world No. 12 Li Shi Feng, giving China a 2-1 lead.
With India needing a win in the fourth match, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun faced He Ji Ting and Liu Yi. However, the Indian pair lost 21-16, 17-21, 21-9, ending India’s hopes of reaching a second successive men’s team final.
India had assured a medal after defeating hosts Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals, with Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag and Ayush Shetty winning their respective matches.
India, which won a silver medal at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games, finished on the podium for the second consecutive edition but missed out on a place in the final.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, India won the silver medal after losing 3-2 to China in the gold medal clash.