Aaron-Wooi Yik storm into World Championships semi-finals

Indian men's doubles team Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fell short of a medal at the 2026 badminton World Championships after suffering a defeat against World No 3 Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China. The Chinese duo emerged victorious in straight games 21-18, 21-9. With this loss, Satwiksairaj and Chirag become the only Indians not to win a medal in the tournament.

They entered the competition as the fifth seed and home favourite, enjoying a bye in the first round and a walkover in the second round. Their journey to the quarter-finals began with a win against Malaysia's Arif and Yap. However, they faced a tough challenge against the Olympic medallists in the quarter-finals. Satwik acknowledged that the Chinese players "were everywhere.

Wherever we were hitting, they would counter it." Chirag added that the Chinese pair's solid game, characterized by flat exchanges and consistent placement of drops, proved too much for the Indian duo. Despite the Indian crowd's support, the Chinese players broke the Indian hearts with a dominant second game 21-9. Earlier in the day, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand earned India one medal by defeating the fourth-seeded Chinese pair of Jia and Zhang in three games, continuing India's streak of medal-winning performances at the World Championships since 2011.