'Two guys with high quality hitting’, Gopichand hails Satwik-Chirag
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy started 2023 exactly how they had left 2022, which was their best season with the trophy cabinet swelling with two BWF World Tour titles, Commonwealth Games gold, World Championships bronze and the Thomas Cup.
After a couple of semi-final appearances, the world No.6 pair won the Swiss Open in March, following it up with gold at the prestigious and extremely tough Badminton Asia Championships in April to become the first Indians to win the continental competition since Dinesh Khanna (men’s singles) in 1965.
But the CWG champions had suffered a surprising loss of form in the past month. Expectations were high from India and Chirag-Satwik at the Sudirman Cup in May, especially after the Thomas Cup triumph last year, but India exited the Grade 1 tournament at the group stage with the pair losing both their matches.
Their quick return of serves went missing when the Asian champions lost in the Thailand Open second round. The situation worsened when they suffered a first-round exit at the Singapore Open two weeks back with Chirag calling the period “the lowest low”.
“After winning the Swiss Open and Asian Championships, I wouldn’t say we were not hungry at all, but there was slight dip. A few matches here and there and suddenly confidence went down. Both of us were depressed with the way we played. We spoke to each other and knew we had to go higher,” said Chirag, 25.
Satwik concurred: “We performed badly in the past month. We became lazy and passive, thinking it was under control, but it wasn't. It was a wakeup call. We told ourselves to be alert, otherwise we will keep crashing out in first round.”
The duo went back to the drawing board in the national camp in Hyderabad, spending hours daily training, watching footage of previous matches, and discussing with chief national coach Pullela Gopichand and doubles coach Mathias Boe along with others how to rectify the errors. Satwik’s other worry was managing his injury prone body. The fast yet heavy 22-year-old spent extra time with physios and physical trainers. “I worked day and night with them,” says Satwik.
The results were for all to see at the iconic Istora Senayan arena in Jakarta. In a stunning turnaround of fortune, they beat five top pairs back-to-back to win the title in the $1.25 million Indonesia Open, becoming the first Indians to win a Super 1000 tournament.
“They are a team which has good serve, good returns, very good attack; awareness of the court is very good and they are big guys who can go through any defence. Many teams have one strong player and the other not so strong, but we have two with very high quality hitting. They are a formidable pair to beat. The depth which they get from their smashes, it is not often that you see the front court person finding it easy, clearing it all the time,” says Gopichand.
“In the past week the way they played and moved on court, the kind of power they were able to generate from their smashes, their court awareness, was fantastic. They will lose a few matches (like they did recently). You will have conditions which will be different. But they are strong guys who will win quite a few tournaments. They look stronger and have a great future.”
In Jakarta, Satwik and Chirag overcame the formidable Popov brothers of France, Christo and Toma, Spain Masters champions Zhou Haodong-He Jiting of China, world No.1 and All England champions Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia, Malaysia Masters winners Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae of South Korea, and finally world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia whom they had never beaten on eight previous occasions.
“Although the statistics may have been against them, the way the boys played through the tournament, they looked very confident. From a coach’s perspective, Mathias, who was handling the strategy part, was confident they would do well. Of course, they had to stick to the strategy. They backed each other well,” the former All England champion said.
“Going forward, the conditions are going to be tough, opponents are going to be tough, each venue will be different. It’s not like you’ve solved a problem and you remain sorted forever. You’ll have to keep thinking, you’ve got to be on your toes like the way they planned and played this event. This win is going to help them. They will need to be alert and will need to do their basics right. With their ability, they will win quite a few matches in the future.”
With most players having individual coaches, the Dronacharya awardee has reduced travelling with the team considerably. The Indonesia Open was his first on-field assignment in months, a move that certainly helped Satwik-Chirag.
“Gopi sir came after a long time. Just his presence on the court made me feel so positive. When he’s there we’re always alert. His influence is such that whenever I see his face, I feel everything is under control,” said Satwik, who joined Gopichand’s academy in 2014. Gopichand responded: “As a support team you need to ensure that they stay positive and focused. That is what we have done.”
Having conquered the Indonesia Open, the duo is already looking ahead. “This is just the start. We need to go and win even bigger tournaments,” concluded Chirag.
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