These are heady days for Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Each time they have entered the courts at the India Open here, the crowd has come alive. That familiar home roar — once the preserve of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu – is now commanded by the dynamic doubles combination as well. They feed off the buzz, the energy, the noise, owning the big stage while shattering reputations in world badminton.
The last year has been nothing short of phenomenal. Three World Tour titles, an Asian Games gold, the Asian Championships title and a World No. 1 rank — Satwik and Chirag are in top form ahead of the Paris Olympics. At a time when Sindhu is fighting the biggest slump of her career and the men’s singles category is more of a HS Prannoy show, expectations from Satwik and Chirag have soared. The challenge will be to maintain this hot streak amid all the noise around them.
Danish coach Mathias Boe has played a crucial role in making them a world class pair. “Yes, there is a lot of expectation from them. You can see that. Every athlete feels pressure at the Olympics, but yes, I can understand, there are few athletes in India who raise hopes of an Olympic medal. We are as relaxed as possible, ” said Boe, an Olympics medallist himself.
“I don’t think it’s pressure (from outside).. the biggest pressure comes from inside. My job is to get them as prepared, see that they get to play as close to 100 per cent. That is my goal.
“If they can play close to their best, then their opponents will have to really play well to have a shot at a medal. We are not thinking about medals. We think of doing our best on court. At the Olympics it’s a mental thing and we have to see how best they are handling it.”
Last week they reached the finals of Malaysia Open and, this week they are favourites at the India Open, a tournament they won in 2022 and had to withdraw midway last year because of Satwik’s injury. Boe’s plans for Satwik and Chirag – the current world ranked No.2 pair — is to experiment in the events lined up before Paris.
Satwik — who is explosive from the back court, was seen taking more initiative at the net here. Tightening their defence on these slow courts is another thing they are working on. “The Olympics are the biggest target this year — no doubt about it but it is still six-seven months away. We want to use these tournaments as practice to sharpen up and also win tournaments. We are deciding certain things for the Olympics.”
“Of course, they have the power. We have worked on playing some different formations with Satwik on the net. Also, to trust the defence,” said Boe.
Satwik agrees that they need to be more solid in defending the blunting the surge of attacks. “There is a lot more to do in the defence compared to the other top pairs when they open up play, they just don’t panic and play a lot more attacking,” he said.
It’s a highly competitive field in men’s doubles and there is little to separate at the top. World No. 1 Chinese Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, world champions Korean Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo, 2022 world champs Malaysian Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh of Malaysia, and Denmark’s worlds silver medallist Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen will be prepared to peak in Paris. Satwik and Chirag have beaten all of them but the Olympics will be a test of a different degree. “They have determination and belief that they can do it and they listen to what I am saying overall. They follow the tactic,” said Boe.
“The top four look good. The Chinese pair looks sharp. Korea are world champions; the Malaysian pair was world champion the previous year. It’s a pretty open field in men’s doubles right now. There is no time to rest. We need to be at the top of our game.”
