Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Hailing from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh, Rankireddy was born to Kasi Vishwanath and Rangamani. Inspired by his father, a former state-level player, and his elder brother, he began playing badminton at just six years old. Under his father’s guidance, Rankireddy practiced at the Officer’s Club in Amalapuram, where Kasi Vishwanath served as President. Seeing his potential, his father decided to enroll him in an academy for professional training.

In 2014, Satwik was enrolled in the Gopichand Badminton Academy, training under ex-player and national coach Pullela Gopichand. After playing both singles and doubles, he chose to concentrate on doubles as a specialist. Satwik started with district tournaments before winning his first career title at the Sub-Junior State Badminton Championships in the U-13 category. 

Under Gopichand’s guidance, Satwik’s prospects soared. In 2014, he and Krishna Prasad Garaga secured their first national doubles title at the Sub-Junior Nationals Badminton in the U-17 category. A year later, the pair clinched their first international gold in the U-17 Boys’ Doubles at the Asian Junior Badminton Championship.

It was Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her who decided to pair Satwik with Chirag Shetty. At first, their relationship both on and off the court was challenging due to their differing backgrounds. While Chirag was an extrovert and liked to travel and try different things, Satwik loved to remain in his comfort zone. 

However, the coach made them realize that they would make a formidable team and thus, encouraged Satwik to excel in the back-court while Chirag honed his front-court abilities. The duo emerged and soon started winning medals for the nation. In 2016, Satwik and Chirag won the Tata Open India International Challenge, Mauritius International, India International Series, Vietnam Open International Challenge, and Bangladesh International.

The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty soon became a hit. In 2018, Satwik and his partner Chirag made a significant contribution to India’s maiden gold medal in the mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games 2018. They also earned their first silver medal as a duo in the same competition, succumbing to England’s Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge. The pair made history in 2019 as the first Indian doubles team to secure a BWF Super title at the Thailand Open, overcoming the strong Chinese duo and then World No. 2 Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen. They continued their success with a runner-up finish at the 2019 French Open, the Super 750 event.

Satwik and Chirag couldn’t make it far at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 as they bowed out in an unfortunate manner despite defeating eventual gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin in the group stage. In 2022, they started the year with a triumph at the India Open. They played a pivotal role in India’s Thomas Cup triumph by beating Indonesia’s Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan, contributing to India’s 2-0 lead.

At the Commonwealth Games 2022, the pair clinched the men’s doubles gold by getting past England’s Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-13. During the BWF World Championships 2022, Shetty and Rankireddy claimed a groundbreaking bronze medal, India’s first-ever men’s doubles medal at the event. They ended a great 2022 by winning the French Open, having been runners-up in 2019.

The year 2023 was full of rollercoasters for the Indian pair as they had to skip/ give a walkover in a few tournaments due to Satwik’s injury like India Open and Spain Masters. In the Badminton Mixed Team Asia Championships 2023, Chirag had to pair up with Dhruv Kapila due to Satwik’s injury. But, their first title in 2023 came when Chirag and Satwik captured the Swiss Open crown, defeating China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang 21-19, 24-22. At the recently held Badminton Asia Championships 2023, the duo carved their names into Indian sports history by winning the men’s doubles title, becoming the first Indian winner at the event in 58 years.