Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s wait for a title continues as they suffered a straight games loss to Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin in the final of the Thailand Open 2026 on Sunday, May 17. The Indian duo were beaten by a scoreline of 12-21, 23-25 as the Indonesian pairing completed their fairytale run in Bangkok with the crown.
THAILAND OPEN FINAL HIGHLIGHTS
Satwik and Chirag always appeared to be playing catch-up to Carnando and Marthin throughout the game as the Indonesian pair beat their Indian counterparts for the first time in five matches.
With this, Satwik and Chirag’s wait for the title has now extended to two years with their last triumph coming at the Thailand Open itself.
HOW THE MATCH UNFOLDED
Both teams were coming into the final after contrasting semi-finals. Satwik and Chirag had to dig deep to secure a comeback win against Malaysia’s Fei and Izzudin. On the other hand, Carnando and Marthin defeated He and Ren in straight games and it has been a feature of their run this tournament.
They were yet to lose a game in their run to the final, an incredible feat given that Marthin was out of the game for almost a year and had ended his association with Carnando back in 2024. But it seemed like there were no communication issues between the Indonesian pairing as they applied the early pressure on the top seeds with relentless smashes.
Marthin’s jump smash was the main weapon for the Indonesian stars on the day as Satwik and Chirag were often left scrambling to defend it. The Indonesian pair took a 4-1 lead, forcing a change of plans from Sat-Chi as they looked to mount a comeback. And for a brief time, that was the case.
The Indian pair were able to make it 4-5. But the main issue with Satwik and Chirag was that they were unable to keep hold of the momentum at any point in the first game. This allowed Carnando and Marthin to take the advantage with a four-point cushion at 11-7.
Once the break was over, it was just one-way traffic as the smashing power of the Indonesian team seemed to be way too much for the former World No.1 pairing. Marthin and Carnando just strolled along and secured an easy win in game one.
In the second game, Sat-Chi started with more vigour and there was a noticeable shift in their energy. But it was Marthin and Carnando who raced to a 5-2 lead pushing the Indian pair once again on to the backfoot.
Adversity has always brought the best out of Satwik and Chirag in the past and we saw it during the semi-final on Saturday.
Here, they mustered a five-point run that saw them take the lead in the match for the first time with the score at 7-5. Then it was a see-saw battle as the Marthin and Carnando kept ensuring that Sat-Chi never got far away from them, forcing errors at crucial points.
But Satwik and Chirag battled on to secure the lead at the break with a scoreline of 11-9. However, it was the Indonesian pair that came out with better energy after the interval, regaining the lead. This started a small phase of both teams exchanging the lead between each other and the score coming to 14-14.
Satwik and Chirag were able to take a two-point lead but it didn’t last for a long time as the smashes kept coming in from Marthin while Carnando was smart with his work near the net.
Sure enough, the Indonesian pair secured their first championship point of the contest. The fightback from Satwik and Chirag was on, but much like their game on Sunday, it was filled with simple errors. There was a moment when Satwik let the advantage slip as he fumbled his serve.
They were able to save four championship points, but it in the end, the sheer power of the smashes from Marthin and the smartness of Carnando proved to be too much on the day.
Satwik-Chirag will be next in action during the Singapore Open, which will take place from May 26-31
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