The ace Indian badminton men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Tuesday went where no Indian pair has gone before. The in-form duo climbed two spots in the lastest Badminton World Federation rankings to be crowned the new World number 1 in the men's doubles circuit. No other Indian doubles pair has ever done this before. In fact, only three other Indians have achieved the top billing ever in any category - Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi. All three players have done it in the singles circuit. (More Badminton News)
The unprecedented milestone follows Satwiksairaj-Chirag's Asian Games 2023 triumph, where they again created history with India's first-ever Asiad gold in badminton. The competition in badminton is incredibly tough at the Asian Games, with players from China, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia being among the best in the world. This is what makes the feat even more creditable, and ranks right up there in Indian badminton history.
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Satwik and Chirag had an incredible campaign at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where they played some sparkling badminton to get to the summit clash, where they beat Kim Wonho and Choi Solgyu of South Korea in straight games to bring home another gold medal for the Indian contingent.
The news augurs well for the Indian pair in the lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Satwik and Chirag will surely be medal contenders. They have had a fantastic year on the circuit, winning the Asia Championships gold, Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Open Super 300 titles in an all-conquering season. They also bagged the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold, 2022 Thomas Cup title and the 2022 World Championships bronze medal.
