Badminton Asia Championships: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ended India’s long-awaited gold medal drought in the Badminton Asia Championships. The young guns continued to scale new peaks as they created history by becoming India’s first-ever Men’s Doubles pair to get their hands on the gold medal in the continental tournament on Sunday, 30th April 2023. The World No.6 pair defeated Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi to achieve the triumph. Follow Badminton Asia Championships 2023 LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Badminton Asia Championships: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ‘over the moon’ after being crowned Asian Champions, calls it a boost ahead of Olympic qualifications – Check Out
IT’S A GOLD 🥹
The wait of 58 years finally comes to an end as our very own Sat-Chi clinch the historic 🥇 medal. 2️⃣nd for 🇮🇳 after 1965, 1️⃣st in MD category 🥳🥳
📸: @badmintonphoto @himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1 #BAC2023#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/3NQbqwy7al
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 30, 2023
Speaking after the historic triumph, Chirag Shetty expressed his happiness, “I am over the moon after winning the Badminton Asia Championships title. I and Satwik worked really hard for this medal and I am happy that we have finally won the title.”
His partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy added, “It’s our dream to win for India and make the flag fly high. Personally for me, it will take a lot of time to believe that we are the Asian champions. I still don’t believe we are Thomas Cup champions. This is a good boost for us as we go into the Olympic qualification period.”
“It’s a great feeling to win this tournament for the first time. I am sure we will win more such titles in the future. We will continue to work hard to bring laurels to the country,” he added.
The duo received a good support from the crowd during the final as they came back from a game down to clinch a 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 victory. Acknowledging the crowd, Satwik added, “I think today we didn’t play, the crowd played with us. It felt like playing in Hyderabad. The crowd was amazing.”
Elabborating on their game, he said, “It was a bad start in the first and half of second game, but we didn’t give up. We kept our nerves. We know how to play these situations. So, we were waiting for the good rhythm and then take our chances. We were calmer in the second and third games.”
“After 13-8 we tried to play little smarter. Service was one thing that worked really well for us; it took them by surprise. We were also a lot calmer while defending as well,” concluded Chirag Shetty.
The Indian pair will next be seen in action at the Sudirman Cup. The mixed team tournament will be played from 14th to 21st May in Suzhou, China. India bowed out from the group stages of the tournament last year. Indian squad however looks much stronger this time with PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Senall set to participate apart from Satwik and Chirag and they will look to seal a podium finish.
Badminton Asia Championships: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ‘over the moon’ after being crowned Asian Champions, calls it a boost ahead of Olympic qualifications – Check Out
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