The best thing that has happened to Indian badminton in last few years is undoubtedly, the birth of our sensational men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Used to creating history in their career so far, they made sure that they created yet another historical milestone at Dubai where the Badminton Asia Championships 2023 were held. They were the first Indian pair to reach the men’s doubles finals since the inception of the Asian championship in 1965.
This Asian championship saw them play the very best matches of their career so far.
And notwithstanding the results of the finals, which they won in 58 pulsating minutes 16-21, 21-17, 21-19, the best match in their scintillating career so far was the unbelievable way they hammered the former three times world champions from Indonesia, Muhammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in just 28 minutes of total domination. 21-11, 21-12 in the quarterfinals.
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The Indians in full bloom are a treat to watch. Never taking a wrong step, the duo was awesome in attack and comprehensive in defence. There were no loopholes to be exploited by the opponents at any time in the match. Their services and return of services were bang on and totally controlled. Their middle court defence was well orchestrated and anticipated and the body drive shots were lightening and precise. The best part of this match was the way the Indians turned defence into attack by blocking the smashes and forcing lifts.
If Chirag marshalled the net like a tiger, the smashes by Satwiksairaj were booming and well-targeted. Ace badminton writer and veteran masters national and international champion Shirish Nadkarni says, “For Satwiksairaj and Chirag to have demolished the former world champions, also nicknamed as the ‘daddies’, 21-11, and 21-12 is a phenomenal achievement.
To reduce Ahsan and Setiawan to that helpless level with relentless attack and speed of movement meant our boys have arrived and are playing at a high level.
Last we won a medal in the doubles was way back in 1971 at Jakarta when the Ghosh brothers, Dipu and Romen stormed into the semifinals to claim the bronze. Highly impressed by Chirag and Satwiksairaj’s understanding of the doubles event, legendry Romen Da says," These two Indian boys are fantastic. They have defeated every top pair in the world. Today they are ranked 5th in the world. The day is not far when they will claim the top spot. They have a perfect understanding of how doubles has to be played. They have covered all bases and there is no loophole or weakness in their approach to doubles.
“You yourself played for India at the highest level Sanjay and you will know that doubles was always neglected in the country. The selection of doubles players also depended on their singles game. It is of late that things have changed, especially after the performance of these two legends. They have got good 8-9 years of badminton in them. They will dominate the international scene for many years to come."
Romen continued and said that a huge credit should also go to our doubles coach Mathias Boe who has done wonders with our doubles players. Indeed, Mathias is to be congratulated for this huge success of our boys.
Coming to the finals where we claimed the gold for the first time in 58 years; the only one being in men’s singles in 1965 when Dinesh Khanna snatched the gold in singles.
It took them a hard-fought three-game affair before they could stamp the trophy with their names. The Indians were 3-3 in head to head against the Malaysian pair Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi. In the last meeting at the Swiss Open this year the Indian pair had won.
They lost the first game 16-21 and were down 7-13 in the second game before they unleashed a fierce comeback and won 5 points in a row. And never looked back after that, playing in the same pattern with Chirag at the net and Satwiksairaj smashing from the baseline area. But the way they rotated the attack was great. This meant that Chirag also got a chance to hit from the baseline. In the second game also we struggled to keep afloat and were down 10-14 and 11-15 behind, but equalling at 17 the Indians again put on the screws to run away with the game 21-17.
The decider was a fast-paced affair with relentless body drives, an area where Chirag excels. Creating really good openings Chirag brought in Satwiksairaj into the attack which was a brilliant tactic. We drew apart at 16-16 and were three match points up at 20-17.
The spectators, on the edges of their seats, must have chewed their nails off as they had to suffer heartburn since the Malaysian pair came close to 19-18 before the Indians pulled away for this historic victory.
Sky the Limit for the Duo: Khanna
Dinesh Khanna the legendry singles specialist who had won gold in 1965, had this to say about our dynamic duo.
“I am really happy that finally, we have won another gold. For 58 years I have been waiting and am really excited that it has finally happened."
“Though I am dazed that it had come from doubles. I always thought that it would come from singles, with such huge performers in our ranks – Saina Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Prannoy or Lakshya Sen."
“But this pair is really very good. They are going from strength to strength. I will not be surprised if they win the world championship and/or the Asian Games later this year."
A Lacklustre Campaign Otherwise
However, there was nothing much to write about the rest of our squad, who were mediocre at best. Barring Nagpur Girl Malvika Bansod who showed guts and spunk in taking Akane Yamaguchi the top seed and world number one to close scores 23-25, 19-21 in women’s singles.
Much was expected of former world champion PV Sindhu but she came a cropper yet again against 2nd seed An Se-Young of Korea. Playing her natural attacking fast movement play she had won the first game, but again she started to play defensive and lost the next two games 5-21, 9-21.
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In mixed doubles Rohan Kapoor and Silki Reddy did well to reach the quarters where they lost to Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia 21-18, 19-21, 21-15. In men’s singles, Sen crashed out 7-21, 21-23 in the first round against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. Prannoy reached the third round but retired in the quarter-final match against Kanta Tsuneyama due to injury. Kidambi Srikanth lost in the 2nd round to 4th seed Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in three games.
But, for Indian badminton, this Badminton Asia championships will forever be remembered for the remarkable exploits of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj RankiReddy.
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