‘I was in disbelief’, Chirag Shetty recalls Indonesia Open win with doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Indian shuttler Chirag Shetty, who won the Indonesia Open men’s doubles title with partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, said winning their maiden Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 event was special and the duo believed they could do it. . In an interview with ANI, Chirag and Satwiksairaj talked about their Indonesia Open title win, being number three in the men’s doubles rankings, Asian Games this year and medal prospects for the Olympics 2024 in Paris going.

“Winning a Super 1000 event is pretty special for both of us. We always knew we had it in us to do it. It was just a matter of time before we achieved it. The way we played all week, was unbelievable.” Chirag told ANI. He said that the feeling of winning the Indonesia Open has finally hit home.

He said, “Now when I look back, it was a tournament to remember for us. We beat the world number one team in the quarter-finals and the world champions, whom we had never beaten before, in the final.”

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India’s men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated second seeds Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh 21-17, 21-18 to win India’s maiden BWF Super 1000 World Tour title. The Open was played in Jakarta on Sunday.

But before this encounter in the final, the Malaysian pair had defeated ‘Sat-Chi’, as the Indian pair is popularly known, in all their eight encounters. Talking about their feelings as a pair facing a formidable opponent in the final, Chirag said that he and Satwiksairaj decided to stick to their game plan and that they have seen themselves in their last eight meetings. were stopped.

“We knew we had to stick to our game plan. In our last eight meetings, we held ourselves back. Be reactive.” This time it was different when we got mistakes, we didn’t get affected by it and told ourselves it’s okay, we can’t be complacent and have to be the setters, be more pro-active,” Chirag said. . At the triumphant moment, Chirag said that he was in complete disbelief.

“The moment the shuttle hit the net, luckily for us, it didn’t fall on our side. I just fell on the court and was in disbelief, pulling my headband in disbelief. I was in disbelief for a few seconds. Then Satwik Lifted me up. We were both ecstatic and happy with our win. To beat him in the final, in our first Super 1000 final, couldn’t have been better,” he concluded.