Satwik-Chirag win Korea Open for year’s fourth title

The sense of occasion stood out as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty broke into a brief yet rhythmic ‘Gangnam Style’ horse dance to the approving roar of fans at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu, South Korea on Sunday. “That is up north” the TV commentator jokingly complained before adding, “It doesn’t matter” as he referred to the southern city of Yeosu they were in and the Seoul neighbourhood up north which PSY’s 2012 K-pop hit had summed up.

Victory celebrations can be coordinated though a victory itself can’t be. The Indian pair produced a mighty comeback as they won the Korea Open men’s doubles final, upstaging Indonesia’s world No.1 pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto 17-21 21-13 21-14 in 62 minutes to claim the BWF World Tour Super 500 event.

Rankireddy and Shetty have been on a roll this year, and it was their fourth title in 2023, three on the BWF World Tour besides the Asia Championships crown.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games champions, who have gone from strength to strength could move up from their current world No.3 ranking after logging 9200 ranking points for the win. They won the Swiss Open in March and victory at last month’s Indonesia Open made them the first Indian pair to claim a Super 1000 event, the highest level competition on the tour.

The Asia Championships had come in the UAE in April. The triumph on Sunday revealed their amazing consistency and fighting spirit when down, it should only boost gold medal hopes at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September-October.

India’s Danish doubles expert Mathias Boe in a recent interview with Hindustan Times spoke of how Rankireddy, 22, and Shetty, 26, must think more about their game and aspects to improve when off court to find ways to navigate through tough moments when on it.

They were required to dig into the badminton wisdom that exercise would have provided, with chief Pullela Gopichand courtside to guide the pairing he has nurtured for years. In the end, they passed that test with flying colours to win their seventh BWF World Tour title.

“We didn’t start off that well but happy that we could win that second game and keep up the momentum until the very end. We are extremely happy that we could win consecutive titles, after the Indonesia Open,” Shetty would say after the win that assured them 9,200 BWF world ranking points and $33,180.

Rankireddy said: “We played some amazing badminton throughout the week here... We want to continue with the same momentum next week in the Japan Open, so we’ll go back now, rest and focus again.”

They beat two Chinese pairs to reach the final, including a 24-22 second game for the semi-final win over Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang on Saturday. But Rankireddy and Shetty were subdued to start with against the Indonesians.

Alfian and Ardianto were in cruise mode as they ran up an 8-3 and 11-5 lead. Unsettled by the Indonesians at the net, their attacking game neutralised and anxiety to finish off points leading to errors, Rankireddy and Shetty were down 9-19.

The ‘come on India’ cheers in the stands too had died down when they suddenly switched on. Attacking better and showing more patience to draw errors, they rallied to 16-19 and then saved a game point.

Though the Indonesians took the game when Rankireddy’s tap found the net, the tide had turned. Once they went up 4-3 in the second, the Indians never ceded the lead in the match. They kept shots flat but varied the pace and placement. The Indonesians were no longer sure of their game. A great rally was won to go 8-6 up as Rankireddy’s aggression and Shetty’s defensive skills combined to seal the game 21-13 and draw level.

Alfian and Ardianto showed better anticipation in the decider, but Shetty and Rankireddy were in control. From 7-3, the scores narrowed at 11-9 after a brilliant rally, but superb recovery shots kept rallies alive and the points coming, the Indians cruising when the win came.

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