BWF World Rankings: Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty moves into the Top 10 rankings of men’s doubles
The fast-rising young Indian pair of Satwiksairaj RankiReddy
and Chirag Shetty climbed up to number 9th in the latest BWF men’s
doubles rankings. Before the tournament started, the young Indian was placed
16th.
Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty reached the
quarterfinals of Japan Open 2019. It was an amazing performance by the young
Indian pair who played with aggression in the entire Super 500 Thailand Open
2019. In the first round of Thailand Open 2019, RankiReddy and Chirag defeated
their compatriot Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy in three gruelling sets by 21-11,
24-26, 21-11 to move into the 2nd round. The young Indian pair won the first and third
set with ease. Both pairs fought for each point before Manu and Sumeeth won
the 2nd set.
Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty stunned sixth seed
Alfian and Ardianto of Indonesia in the 2nd round in two straight
games at 21-17, 21-19 to move into the quarterfinals. The young pair proved
their worth with attacking stroke play and never allow the Indonesian pair to
come back into the game.
In the quarterfinals, RankiReddy and Chirag went past Korean
pair of Choi and Seo s-j in three gruelling games at 21-17, 17-21, 21-19 to
move into the semi-finals. The Indian pair had a great start in the first
taking an 11-7 lead at the interval. After the interval, Choi and Seo came back
into the match with but the Indian pair held their nerves to win the first set
at 21-17.
The second game was a close-fought affair as the South
Korean pair took the lead at the start but Satwik and Chirag cameback strongly
to level the scores at 10-10. At the interval, the Indian pair had a slender
lead of 11-10. After the interval, the South Korean pair played with aggression and
made a comeback into the match to win the 2nd set at 21-17.
The South Korean pair started the third game on an aggressive
note taking an 8-4 lead. Satwik and Chirag came back strongly to level the
scores at 8-8. At the interval, Choi and Seo had a slender 11-10 lead. After
the interval, both pairs fought for each point and were level at 19-19. The Indian
pair held their nerves to win the deciding game at 21-19 to move into
semi-finals.
The young Indian pair defeated another South Korean pair of
Ko Syun-Hyun and Shin Baek-Chol in three gruelling sets at 22-20, 22-24, 21-9
to move into their maiden Super 500 tournament finals. In the first game the
Korean pair had a great start taking a 3-1 lead. The young Indian pair came
back strongly to level the scores at 9-9. At the interval, the Korean pair led
11-10. After the interval, Satwik and Chirag raised their game to level the
scores at 13-13 and then 15-15 before moving into a 20-18 lead. Korean pair
took 2 points in succession to equal the scores at 20-20. The Indian pair held
their nerves to win the first set at 22-20.
It was a great start for the Indian pair in the 2nd
game taking an early 3-0 lead. The Korean pair fought back strongly with great
smashes and placements. At the interval, Syun and Hyun led 11-9. After the
break, it was a dominating display by the Korean pair to take a 19-12 lead. From
16-20 down, the Indian pair took 4 points in succession to level the scores at
20-20. Both pairs fought for each point before the Korean pair won the 2nd
set at 24-22 to force the match into the decider.
In the final game, the Indian pair dominated right from word
go and took a commanding 11-2 lead. After the interval, Satwik and Chirag were
aggressive to win the third set at 21-9 to move into their maiden finals at a
major competition.
The young Indian pair defeated current World Champions Li Junhui
and Liu Yuchen in three gruelling games at 21-19, 18-21, 21-18. It was a close-fought affair in initial stages of the first game before the Indian pair played with
aggression and took an 11-9 lead at the interval. After the interval, the current
World Champion came back strongly to reduce the margin and then equal the score
at 15-15. Satwik and Chirag held their nerves to win the first set at 21-19.
In the second game, the Indian pair had a great start taking
an early 6-2 lead. Both pairs fought for each point but Satwik and Chirag took
11-9 lead at the interval. After the interval, Li and Liu were aggressive with
their badminton to level the scores at 14-14. It was a close-fought affair as
both pairs were level till 18-18. The Chinese pair won 3 points in succession
to win the 2nd set at 21-18.
The final game saw the World Champions starting on a
positive note taking an early 4-1 lead. The Indian pair showed their class and
levelled the scores at 6-6. At the interval, Satwik and Chirag led 11-8. After
the break, the Indian pair never looked back and put pressure on the Chinese
pair to win the third set and game at 21-18 to become the first Indian men’s
doubles pair to win a BWF title.
This performance will be a confidence booster for the young
Indian pair ahead of the World Championships 2019 starting from 19th
August.
Satwik and Chirag winning their maiden Super 500 Thailand
Open title.
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