Satwik-Chirag make Indian badminton history

After they became the first Indian shuttlers in 58 years to be crowned Asian champions last month, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were asked by this correspondent what was the one thing they wanted to achieve at the earliest despite all their success. Pat came Shetty’s reply: “We want to beat Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.”

In eight previous meetings the top Indian doubles combine had never been able to beat the world champions. They came close four times when they took the Malaysians the full distance but each time Chia and Yik did that extra bit in their defence to beat Rankireddy and Shetty.

Not on Sunday. After they were unable to beat the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists in six years, the world No.6 Indians finally found a way past them. That too at one of the grandest stages in badminton as Rankireddy and Shetty beat the Malaysian combine 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes to win the $1.25 million Indonesia Open at the iconic and loud Istora Senayan arena in Jakarta.

“In the earlier eight matches against them we would hold ourselves back, but today we stuck to the plan right till the end and never really gave them a chance to come back. We felt they are humans, they are players, and they will also make mistakes,” said Shetty, 25.

“Even in the second game when they took a couple of points, we were like we don’t have to hold ourselves back and play safe; that would make the game a little slow and they are good at capitalising on that. I am really happy. We really needed this win.”

By virtue of their third title of the year – they also won the Swiss Open and Badminton Asia Championships – the Commonwealth Games champions became the first Indians to win a Super 1000 title since the BWF World Tour started in 2018 in place of the Superseries system. The Indonesia Open was Rankireddy and Shetty’s sixth title on the Tour. They have now become the first Indians and the only men’s doubles pair globally to win at all BWF World Tour levels, from Super 100 to 1000.

It was a unique contest of contrasting styles between the world and Asian champions with both battling different kinds of nerves. While Rankireddy and Shetty had to battle the pressure of never having beaten the second seeds, the Malaysians were fighting the nerves of never having won a BWF World Tour title after four losses in finals.

But the Indians did not start the final well with the seventh seeds riddled with nerves, making errors to give the Malaysians an initial lead of 7-3. But the Thomas Cup champions started attacking strategically to win six successive points to go into the lead. Shetty made a couple of service errors but the world No.6 pairing never gave up the lead, returning the bird in a fantastic display unbelievable reflexes during fast and flat exchanges. With three game points in their hand, the Indians put one hand on the trophy by taking the opening game on their first opportunity.

The battle became tougher at the start of the second game with Chia, whose right shoulder was completely strapped, dominating the net. But thereon the tall Indians started attacking the net. Shetty was smashing so hard and steeply that Chia and Yik’s solid defence began to wither. Rankireddy also raised his level against the world No.6 pairing to unleash devastating smashes that helped the Indian combine stretch their lead to a massive 18-11.

In a battle between two attacking pairs, the winner was decided by who got on the attack first. Rankireddy and Shetty anticipated the returns brilliantly, were super confident in their body language and kept gaining confidence with more flat smashes that turned into winners. The Malaysian second seeds saved four match points but finally yielded as the seventh seeded Indians continued their winning streak in finals, never having lost a final since October 2019.

The two ecstatic players immediately went to their corner to hug chief national coach Pullela Gopichand and doubles coach Mathias Boe before Rankireddy broke into his traditional victory dance and Shetty threw his shirt into the packed arena, before they collected their cheque of $92,500.

“For the past few tournaments, I didn’t feel like dancing, (but did today because) we won this tournament. I am happy with the way we played. It felt like a new day, playing new opponents. We were down 0-8 (head-to-head), but I wasn’t thinking much about it. I thought this was a final and both teams were under pressure and if we play well, we will win. We kept it under control and when we got a strike in the first game, I said to myself ‘it’s our day, don’t panic and just play it like any other final’,” Rankireddy said.

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