Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who created history by becoming the first Indian pair to attain the top spot in badminton doubles rankings are accidental partners. They started off as ‘enemies’ at the junior level and wanted to outdo each other whenever their paths crossed on the badminton court. When they were asked to play as a team, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. Both Chirag and Satwik are tall players. Both of them like to operate from the back of the court. Both come from different parts of India, with completely different prsonalities. But despite all this, there was a common chord, that of making India No.1 in badminton doubles. And so they did by winning gold at the Asian Games 2023. But when their partnership started it was not easy.
“The first time we met each other at the Asian Badminton Championships. I was in U15, he was in U17. This was our first tournament not together but as players. Satwik was a very shy person. Initially, we didn’t speak much. but when I shifted my base to the national centre that’s when we started to know each other a lot better,” Chirag told Kunal Pradhan, Managing Editor, Hindustan Times, at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2023 on Saturday.
Satwik said he never imagined that someone like Chirag could become his badminton partner. “Never imagined I’d play with him. 5-6 years ago he was my enemy. I wanted to beat him, wanted to take revenge all the time. Never thought he would become the most important person in my life now,” he said.
Chirag said Satwik got knocked out in the first round of the first three tournaments they played together. The thought of breaking up as a pair was natural but they decided to give themselves a chance.
“Both of us are tall and we always wanted to play at the back. It was difficult to adjust, nobody wanted to play at the front court. In doubles, someone has to create the openings from the front court so that the one at the back can hit a smash. For the first few months, we couldn’t figure this out. In the first three tourneys, we lost in the first round. Our coach took us out in the academy, he said ‘two of you are my favourite. If you feel you don’t want to pay with each other, then you don’t need to. But I think you should give more time to this partnership’. From then on, something changed. We weren’t forced to be partners, we played to be partners. From then we went on to win four titles. Started with a ranking of 300 and ended the year at 60.
Satwik and Chirag are like chalk and cheese as persons. The former hails from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh while the latter is a Mumbai boy. Satwik loves his traditional food but Chirag lives on experimentation. Satwik spends most of his leisure time binging on Telegu movies while Chirag loves to relax.
“We came from different backgrounds. Both of us had different cultures and upbringings. Our coach said being in a doubles partnership is being in a marriage. We started having meals together so that we build understanding. To be good on court we had to bond off the court. We are very good friends off the court, it helps us play better. It was not easy but once we started to know each other, it became easy,” said Chirag.
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