New Delhi [India], August 21 : India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty said on Friday that their quarterfinal defeat at the BWF World Championships on home soil was hurtful but said they gave their best.
The Indian men's doubles pair bowed out of the tournament after losing to China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in straight games on Friday. Satwik and Chirag went down 18-21, 9-21 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Chirag said the Chinese pair maintained a high level of intensity throughout the match.
"We had a good lead, I think probably three-four points, and it's never easy playing against them. The shuttle will be travelling extremely fast because they play a very solid high-pressure game," Chirag told reporters after the match.
"I think a couple of points here and there, and eventually it became back and forth, and eventually we lost the first game. In the second, I think we tried coming back, but the quality that they had was quite high," he added.
Chirag said several shots that they expected to finish did not go their way, while the Chinese pair defended well under pressure.
"A lot of the strokes which we expected to finish, didn't, and even the blocks that they were doing were quite good," he said.
Satwik said his shoulder did not trouble him much during the match and that he was gradually gaining confidence after returning to action.
"It was fine for today's match. Yesterday it was a little bit more intense. I could recover it pretty well. So it wasn't bothering me much, but it's just a little mental thing for me to open up and play fully because it's been a while since I played a match," Satwik said.
"I was getting better and better, I was getting confident, but there was no pain, just stiffness, so it's just normal," he added.
Chirag acknowledged that the defeat was disappointing, especially with the World Championships being hosted in India after a long gap and the overwhelming support from the home crowd.
"Definitely, it would hurt. We are playing a World Championship on our home soil, to see such a huge crowd turn up and cheer for us, obviously feels sad," he said.
"But in the circumstances that we came in, I think we gave it our all. It feels bad, but I think to be playing a World Championship at home feels special," Chirag added.
The pair received massive support from the home fans throughout the tournament.