The top-ranked men's doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the BWF 750 French Open title, at the very same venue that will host the Paris Olympic Games 2024 in July-August - the Arena Porte de la Chapelle. They defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 21-11, 21-17 on Sunday (March 10, 2024) to clinch their first BWF Tour title this season. (Match Report | More Badminton news)
This was their third final appearance this year and after failed attempts at the Malaysia Open and India Open, they were third time lucky.
"It feels really sweet. Paris has always been special for us and we have always played good badminton here and it has been a second home for us. It is a test venue for Olympics but that is still some months away," Chirag said.
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"I would be lying if I say that I am not enjoying that (winning at Olympic venue) but we have won this final. There is another tournament next week, so looking forward to that."
Soon after the win, the Indians celebrated in their traditional style with Satwik lifting Chirag in his lap as he had his hands eyeing towards the sky. Satwik also broke into a dance with his racquet.
Watch the video here:
An elated Satwik said that the duo just wanted to give their 100 percent and enjoy.
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"It all started from Thomas Cup and it became a habit and it has been a long time since we danced. It is after fourth finals. We just wanted to go and have fun and let them earn points and the match," Satwik said.
"We wanted to give our 100 percent and enjoy. Even Mathias (Boe) kept telling us to have fun and we got back our rhythm and the momentum changed.
Satwik and Chirag enjoyed a 2-0 head-to-head record against Lee and Yang but the Taiwanese pair has been in the form of their life, having come into the tournament after winning the German Open last week.
"They had some good weeks, they have beaten some good oppositions, and we knew we can't take them lightly, their ranking might not be high but they have always been a formidable game. So we are happy that we could take that first game and after initial jittery take the second as well," Chirag said.
With this win, it is clear that the Indian duo are medal hopefuls at the Paris Olympics later this year. Satwik-Chirag had endured a disappointing outing at the Tokyo Olympics where they failed to make to the quarter-finals after finishing third.
(With PTI inputs)
