Satwik-Chirag become first Indian pair to win continental badminton title | Badminton News – Times of India
Ending a 58-year-old drought, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the Continental championship in style with a splendid victory against Ong Yew Sing and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia 16-21, 21-17, 21-19. Staring down the barrel after losing the first game and trailing by six points in the second, the Indians fought back to pocket men’s doubles gold at the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai on Sunday.
Dinesh Khanna was the only other Indian to win a gold at this meet, way back in 1965. This is also the first doubles gold for India at the Asian meet.
Delighted with the feat, Chirag said, “I am over the moon. I and Satwik worked really hard for this medal and I am happy that we have finally won the title.”
Satwik said that they would win more titles in future. “I am grateful for all the support we have got during this Championships. It’s a great feeling to win this tournament for the first time and I am sure we will win more such titles in the future. We will continue to work hard to bring laurels to the country,” Satwik said.
Emerging out of the shadow of the dominant singles shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth, the duo of Satwik-Chirag has always shown a lot of promise. But at crucial times they were laid low by injuries. Even at the last Olympics they were the only team to beat the eventual gold medallists. They repeated the feat here and in fact they have beaten champion teams repeatedly over the last few years.
Though they had won several titles including the Thomas Cup, this would rank among the best as the field has world No.1 pair, Olympic champions and former world champions.
The final showdown turned out to be a fight between the best attacking pair and the best defending team of the tournament. But things did not go according to the plan for the Indians as they did not get enough length to play the smashes. And whatever little they could manage was effectively repulsed by the Malaysians.
Having beaten reigning world No.1 and former world champions in the earlier rounds, the Malaysians started on a strong note. From the 13th point in the first game, they moved ahead of the Indians and won it without breaking much sweat.
Even in the second they were cruising ahead before Satwik’s service changed the course of the match from 7-13. Unfazed by the big lead, Indians scored five straight points with the help of a couple of unforced errors by the opponents and two good smashes by Chirag.
The momentum shifted to the Indian side with these points.
In the decider too, Satwik-Chirag came back from 11-15, surviving some anxious moments towards the end before pulling off one of the biggest victory of their career. If Satwik’s service changed the course in the second game, it was Chirag’s smashes that earned points for the Indians. The Mumbai lad was so impressive that he won around 10 points through his smashes.
Results (All finals):
Men’s singles: 2-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Ina) bt 7-Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-12, 21-8
Men’s doubles: 6-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt 8-Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (Mas) 16-21, 21-17, 21-19
Women’s singles: 4-Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) bt 2-An Se Young (Kor) 21-10, 21-14
Women’s Doubles: 7-Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) bt Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-7, 21-14
Mixed Team: Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt 1-Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) 21-15, 21-16
Dinesh Khanna was the only other Indian to win a gold at this meet, way back in 1965. This is also the first doubles gold for India at the Asian meet.
Delighted with the feat, Chirag said, “I am over the moon. I and Satwik worked really hard for this medal and I am happy that we have finally won the title.”
Satwik said that they would win more titles in future. “I am grateful for all the support we have got during this Championships. It’s a great feeling to win this tournament for the first time and I am sure we will win more such titles in the future. We will continue to work hard to bring laurels to the country,” Satwik said.
Emerging out of the shadow of the dominant singles shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth, the duo of Satwik-Chirag has always shown a lot of promise. But at crucial times they were laid low by injuries. Even at the last Olympics they were the only team to beat the eventual gold medallists. They repeated the feat here and in fact they have beaten champion teams repeatedly over the last few years.
Though they had won several titles including the Thomas Cup, this would rank among the best as the field has world No.1 pair, Olympic champions and former world champions.
The final showdown turned out to be a fight between the best attacking pair and the best defending team of the tournament. But things did not go according to the plan for the Indians as they did not get enough length to play the smashes. And whatever little they could manage was effectively repulsed by the Malaysians.
Having beaten reigning world No.1 and former world champions in the earlier rounds, the Malaysians started on a strong note. From the 13th point in the first game, they moved ahead of the Indians and won it without breaking much sweat.
Even in the second they were cruising ahead before Satwik’s service changed the course of the match from 7-13. Unfazed by the big lead, Indians scored five straight points with the help of a couple of unforced errors by the opponents and two good smashes by Chirag.
The momentum shifted to the Indian side with these points.
In the decider too, Satwik-Chirag came back from 11-15, surviving some anxious moments towards the end before pulling off one of the biggest victory of their career. If Satwik’s service changed the course in the second game, it was Chirag’s smashes that earned points for the Indians. The Mumbai lad was so impressive that he won around 10 points through his smashes.
Results (All finals):
Men’s singles: 2-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Ina) bt 7-Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-12, 21-8
Men’s doubles: 6-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt 8-Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (Mas) 16-21, 21-17, 21-19
Women’s singles: 4-Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) bt 2-An Se Young (Kor) 21-10, 21-14
Women’s Doubles: 7-Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) bt Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-7, 21-14
Mixed Team: Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt 1-Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) 21-15, 21-16
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