The Indian duo of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty rose two spots to regain the fifth spot on the back of their recent performances in the Badminton Asia Championship.
Badminton has been such an Asian-dominated game that India was always at the backfoot all these years. The doubles game has been dominated by powerful pairs like Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiwan, Mathias Boe and Carsten Morgensen etc. However, two youngsters decide to fight their way up and enter the top level of the badminton doubles, i.e. the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The duo have become the face of the badminton doubles pairing in the international circuit. Being at such a young age, the pair has already won the prestigious Thomas Cup. However, the recent rejoicement of the pair comes due to their comeback in the BWF world rankings.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Indian men’s doubles badminton pair, are once again back at world No. 5 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Rankings. They are the first Indian men’s doubles pair to be ranked inside the top 10 of the BWF World Rankings. They had attained the world number 5 rankings in December last year but dropped one spot below.
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The Indian duo of Satwik and Chirag rose two spots to regain the fifth spot. The magical ascent of the duo on the Bwf rosters to World No. 5 comes after their tremendous performances in the recently concluded Badminton Asia Championship. The pair won the gold medal in the recently concluded tournament. The star pair clinched the first gold medal in the men’s doubles category in this competition and their second medal at the tournament since 1965. After such a brilliant performance, happiness can be fathomed from Shetty’s remarks “ I am over the moon after winning the Badminton Asia Championships title. I and Satwik worked really hard for this medal and I am happy that we have finally won the title. Also, I would like to thank everyone back home for supporting me.”
Satwik and Chirag had to face tough opponents in the finals and semifinals. In the semis, they faced the Tokyo Olympics champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin from Chinese Taipei. The Indians won the first game after a tough competition. The first set ended at 21-18. In the second set, Wang was injured and the Indians got a walkover.
They defeated the Malaysian duo of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Eo Yi in the finals. The finals also proved to be a tough one for the pair. In the first, they were down 16-21 but they made a memorable comeback to take back the next two games and clinch the Asian champion in mixed doubles. Such a win has proved to be detrimental to their career and the duo have become even more determined to win more laurels for their country.
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