Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty ensures men's doubles medal after 52 years in Badminton Asia C'ships

In Badminton Asia Championship, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty assured a men's doubles medal after 52 years following outplaying Indonesia’s experienced duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the quarterfinals in Dubai.

 

They will take on Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chilin in the semifinals.

 

Yesterday, in the quarterfinals, the Indian duo defeated the seasoned Indonesian team of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games, 21-11, 21-12.

 

 

 

With this win, Rankireddy and Shetty scripted history by assuring a men’s doubles medal at the ongoing Badminton Asia Championships after 52 years.

 

Earlier yesterday, two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu lost in the Quarter Finals of Women’s Singles to An Se-young of South Korea by 21-18, 5-21, 9-21 while in men’s singles, HS Prannoy crashed out to Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan by 11-21, 9-13 after being retired hurt.

 

 

"Playing against senior players like them, there is no strategy. They can come back at any time; they have that mindset. So from starting onwards, we didn’t take it as pressure and we tried to enjoy every point. They are like idols. We have been following them since a young age. When we took our racquets, they were already All England champions and world champions. So, we know how they play," the Indian men’s doubles pair.

 

"But going into the match, we had a strategy with our coach and focused on the service receiving - they are very strong at it. After the injury, the way we are playing it’s a good sign for us," it added.

 

Asked how proud he is with the achievement, Chirag Shetty said that the job is still not done. "The job is still not done. We played some really good badminton today," said Chirag.