Satwik and Chirag achieve crowning glory with Asian Games gold

PTI, Oct 7, 2023, 7:00 PM IST

Credit: X / @ddsportschannel

Hangzhou: Star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty earned India’s first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games with a straight-game win over South Korea’s Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho here on Sunday.

World No. 3 Satwik and Chirag, who had become the first Indians to win the Asian Championships in 58 years in March this year, extended their sensational run with a 21-18, 21-16 win over Choi and Kim, ranked 15th, to achieve their crowning glory.

It was also India’s first medal in men’s doubles in 41 years since Leroy D’sa and Pradeep Gandhe won a bronze in the 1982 edition.

The medal ensured India’s best-ever performance at the continental showpiece as they ended with three medals — a men’s doubles gold, a men’s team silver and a men’s singles bronze.

India had won a silver and bronze in the 2018 edition at Jakarta, while bagging five bronze at the 1982 edition.

Satwik and Chirag will become the world No. 1 team when BWF releases the ranking chart on Tuesday.

The Indians came into the summit clash with a 2-0 head-to-head count against their opponents. It seemed like a tricky affair as Satwik and Chirag lagged in most part of the opening game, which saw both teams produce an immaculate display of attack.

However, the Indian duo kept snapping at the heels of the Koreans and pipped them after overturning a four-point deficit in the opening game in the final moments.

Thereafter, it was a commanding show as Satwik and Chirag slowed down the rallies and kept their nose ahead right from the start to come up trumps.

It was a slugfest from the beginning as the two pairs engaged in a battle of supremacy. The Koreans were up 6-3 with the Indians missing a few shots.

Chirag took some time to get his angles and attack working for him as they narrowed the lead to 7-9. A booming smash from Satwik and a lucky net cord helped the Indians further cut the deficit before Choi and Kim grabbed a narrow two-point advantage at the break.

A series of fast exchanges ensued after resumption with Satwik and Chirag clawing back at 13-13.

Kim looked in awesome form as he charged towards the net and also made a fine return serve to again establish a two-point lead.

At 17-18, the two pairs engaged in a long fast-paced rally with the Indians clawing back and then Chirag took them to 19-18 with another smash.

The Indian combination dished out two clever serves with Satwik sealing it with a winner in the end.

The Indian pair slightly tweaked its strategy, directing the shots more towards Choi and varying the pace of the rallies and also looking for placements and angles to lead 8-4. Satwik and Chirag then grabbed a 11-7 lead after the Koreans went long.

The pace went up again post interval as the Koreans made it 11-12 but the Indians again pulled away to 16-12. A net error by Choi put India four points away from the gold.

Another long shot from the Koreans and a good serve saw the Indians lead 19-14. The Indian soon earned five match points and they sealed the match when the Koreans made an unforced error.

The duo soon broke into their trademark dance. Chirag even removed his shirt and did a small lap of honour in front of the gallery. Satwik was seen touching the feet of coach Pullela Gopichand. Both threw their respective racquets to the cheering crowd before rushing back to shake hands with their opponents.

With this title, the legend of Satwik and Chirag only grew as they now have an Asian Games gold to go with the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold, 2022 Thomas Cup title and the 2022 World Championships bronze.

The duo also won the Asia Championships gold, Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Open Super 300 this year.

“It can’t get any bigger than this. Winning the gold medal after winning silver in the team event was very important for us,” Chirag said.

On coming from behind in the first game, he said, “Satwik pulled us level from 18-15 (in the first game), playing some good shots. At 18-18, I got a little more confident. And when we took the first one, I knew we were in the game.”

Satwik said he and Chirag were under a bit of pressure and nervous early on but later got back the confidence.

“They (Koreans) are good players, they have reached here after playing very well all week, so we just wanted to play well and not allow the pressure to get to us.”

On the imminent world number one ranking, he said, “We never thought about ranking, we just wanted to win this competition, which is a milestone because we have been playing consistently.

“We just have to keep playing well, we want to achieve more. We will not stop at this, we will go back and work harder.”