NB Explains | Satwik-Chirag now World No. 2, highest rank achieved by any Indian pair ever! Know how they can be World No. 1

In a historic moment for India, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy climbed up a spot to achieve their all-time career-high rank of world no. 2 on Tuesday after winning Korea Open 2023.

 

 

Apart from Korea Open 2023, the duo has won 2 BWF World Tour titles this year including Indonesia Open and Swiss Open 2023. Not just that, Satwik/Chirag are unbeaten in the last 10 matches on the BWF World Tour and have not lost even a single final this year, including the Badminton Asia Championships.

 

This is the first time ever in the history of BWF rankings that an Indian pair has reached this high in the rankings and has a realistic chance to become WR-1 as well.

 

 

 

Satwik and Chirag could soon attain the numero uno position on the BWF world rankings, replacing Alfian and Ardianto, if they win upcoming Japan Open and the Indonesian pair, the current holder of the position, loses in or before the semis.

 

This week's Japan Open Super 750 is a Grade 2 BWF World Tour event. In the draw, Satwik-Chirag and Alfian-Ardianto are in the same quarter of the draw with a semifinal clash on cards. The Chinese duo Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang is in the opposite half of the draw and will not meet before the final. The Chinese pair is the defending champion. But even if they manage to defend their Japan Open title, they will not be able to reclaim the no. 2 ranking from the Indian pair.

 

 

So according to the stats, it is evident that if Indonesian pair Alfian-Ardianto loses in or before the semifinals (91629 Points), Satwik-Chirag needs to at least reach the final (91761points) to become the new world no. 1. If Indonesian pair makes it to semifinal (92729 points) then the Indians not only need to defeat them in the last-four clash but also need to become champion (93411points) of Japan Open to attain the number one rank.