Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty created history by becoming the first-ever Indian men’s doubles pair to win gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday.
Satwik-Chirag, 2023 Badminton Asia Championships final HIGHLIGHTS
The sixth-seeded duo, who won gold medal at Commonwealth Games and bronze at World Championships last year, beat the eighth-seeded Malaysian pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in 67 minutes in the final in Dubai.
The previous best performance by an Indian men’s doubles pair at the continental event was the bronze medal-finish in 1971 by Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh.
Overall, this is India’s second gold medal at the event. Dinesh Khanna won the men’s singles gold in Lucknow in 1965 after beating Thailand’s Sangob Rattanusorn.
In the closely-fought opening game, the Malaysians took a one-point lead at the halfway stage. From 12-13 down, Ong and Teo reeled off six straight points and closed the game.
Ong and Teo dominated much of the second game and seemed to be in control of the match leading 13-7 at one point. But this time, the Indians went on a streak of five straight points. The shift in momentum did not stop there as Satwik and Chirag continued to attack and took a lead for the first time in the game at 15-14. From there on, the Indians won six of the next points to take the match to a deciding third game.
Similar to the first game, there wasn’t much to separate the two pairs in the initial stages. The Malaysians went into the mid-game interval with a three-point lead. The duo stretched its lead to four at 15-11 but Satwik and Chirag made a comeback for the second time in the match as they went on a run of four straight points.
From 18-17 up, Chirag won the next two points with a quick kill and a cross-court smash. The Malaysians saved two championship points before Satwik hit a body smash at Teo to close the match and seal the gold medal.
After the match, Chirag stated, “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. Also, I would like to thank everyone back home for supporting me.
“I am grateful for all the support we have got during the Badminton Asia 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,” concluded Satwik.