Badminton’s new power duo :Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have just won India it’s maiden Men’s Doubles World Medal, with their quarterfinal victory over Japan’s TakuroHoki and Yugo Kobayashi, who are also the defending champions. The Japanese duo had previously won silver and gold at the 2019 and 2021 editions of the World Championship andwere the favourites leading up to the quarterfinals.

Satwik and Chirag had already raised high hopes, with their contribution to India’s victory at the Thomas Cup. After having spent several seasons in the top 10, the duo is deeply motivated to climb higher up in the rankings. With wins at the India Open, the Thomas Cup and the CWG, that dream is close to materializing.

A crucial factor for these victories has been the Indian coach, Mathias Boe, who has been a success at criticallyanalysing the playing styles of India’s opponents. With his insight, the dynamic Indian shuttlers could dictate the pace of the match and kept the Japanese duo on their feet. The errors that followed squandered away some of the advantage, but the Indian duo were able to finally prevail thanks to combination of both aggression and calm.

Chirag’s story can be traced back to the day when he was informed by his coach, over a phone call, that the then All England champion Mathias Boe, was visiting Mumbai. The opportunity to play with him, is whatconvinced Chirag to request administrators to involve Mathias Boe in the Indian team’s training. The same determination propelled Chirag to request special permission to train through the pandemic alone at the Goregaon Sports Club.

It has been an impressive year for the duo, who are increasingly intimidating. Armed with the feedback and training of Mathias Boe, and fresh from their win at the Thomas Cup, the evolving successes of the Satwik-Chirag partnership is a story in the making.