Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history, winning the BWF Super 500 tournament with a hard-fought victory over Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the men’s doubles final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Sunday.
The unseeded Indian duo prevailed 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 over the third-seeded Chinese pair after battling for an hour and two minutes.
It was the first final of the 2019 season for Rankireddy and Shetty, the men’s doubles silver medallist in last year’s Commonwealth Games.
No wonder Shetty is over the moon after the triumph. “I am extremely happy with our performance. Beating the world champions is not an easy task, but we have done that. I am at a loss for words,” Shetty told The Telegraph from Bangkok.
“It’s the biggest title we have won so far in our career. We played them in the Australian Open and we lost. But we were confident of doing well today. I am happy that we were able to fulfil our dreams,” Shetty said.
“Our preparations went very well before this meet. We played two tournaments prior to this — in Japan and Indonesia — and those helped us.”
Rankireddy and Shetty got off to a good start as they broke away from a 3-3 scoreline early on and moved ahead to open up a 10-6 lead, but their Chinese opponents kept breathing down their necks and made it 14-14.
It was a closely fought affair after that and the world No. 16 Indian pair could take a slight edge only at 20-18. Although the Chinese duo narrowed down the gap further to 19-20, the Indians managed to win the crucial point to wrap up the first game.
In the second game, the Indians managed to take an upper hand as they moved to a 6-2 lead, but the Chinese soon bridged the gap to 5-6 before catching up with their rivals at 11-11.
After the interval, the Chinese duo surged ahead to 13-11, but the Indians lifted their game and drew parity at 13 apiece. They then overtook their opponents to lead 16-14 and then climbed up to 18-16 before the Chinese pair won five consecutive points to take the match to the decider.
Rankireddy and Shetty were slow off the blocks in the third game but managed to make it 6-6. From there on, the Indians never looked back and kept their composure to maintain the edge over their rivals till the end.
Shetty feels this win will help them do better in the coming days. “This win will definitely help us in the future matches we play together. It certainly will work as a confidence booster for us.
“We were scheduled to play in the Hyderabad Open next, but I think we’ll withdraw from that tournament. We will play in the World Championship next.
“Though this is a big win, our main target is to qualify for the Olympics,” he added.
Shetty was so thrilled that he missed his lunch for the day and just had some snacks before taking the flight back home. “After the win, I couldn’t get the time to have lunch. I have been receiving messages from family, friends and well-wishers.”
His partner Rankireddy too sounded elated. “I have some shoulder issues, so we had decided that I would play more from the front and Chirag from the back.
“I was focusing more on the service and net play… Glad that we executed our plans so well,” Rankireddy said.
Rankireddy, however, was always optimistic of winning the final. “Well, we kept our calm all through the tournament. Even when we were down 1-4 in the third game, we didn’t lose hope.
“We remained steady and did not rush things as that would have given them a bigger lead. We just stuck to our plans and did not hurry through the points. I think it really worked and also helped us get the lead at 8-6.”
Speaking of Tokyo 2020 qualification, Rankireddy agreed that they would have to work harder for it. “Our main aim is obviously to get the Tokyo Olympics ticket. We know we have to work harder for it, but we are ready to do so,” he said.
As Shetty feels, the understanding between Rankireddy and him is one of the main reasons behind the duo’s success.
“We have been playing together since December 2014. We first played in a tournament together in March 2015. So, we have very good understanding.”
