Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty created history on Sunday by winning India's first-ever doubles gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships.
Shetty and Rankireddy had to come back from one game down to defeat the Malaysian eighth seeded pair of Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in the final.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the first Indian pair to win an Asian Championship gold medal.
(Photo: BAI)
This was India's second gold medal in the Asian Badminton Championship after Dinesh Khanna bagged the men's singles gold in 1965. Earlier this week, the Satwik-Chirag became the first Indian doubles pair to reach the final of the event. Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh won a bronze medal in 1971 when they reached the semifinals of the competition.
After the match, Shetty said, "I am over the moon after winning the Badminton Asia Championships title. I and Satwik worked really hard for this medal and I am happy that we have finally won the title. Also, I would like to thank everyone back home for supporting me.
"I am grateful for all the support we have got during the Badminton Asia Championships. It's a great feeling to win this tournament for the first time and I am sure we will win more such titles in the future. We will continue to work hard to bring laurels to the country," concluded Rankireddy.
Satwik and Chirag, who won the bronze medal in Men's Doubles at the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo, have claimed two bronze medals in the Asian Team Championships (2016, 2020).
Shetty and Rankireddy started the final on a bright note and played some ferocious shots to get into the right rhythm. They were behind only by a point (10-11) at the halfway stage. However, the Indian pair soon lost momentum as Sin and Yi encashed upon their mistakes to take the first game.
The Malaysian pair continued their momentum in the second game as they took (11-6) lead at the halfway stage. It appeared like it was all over for Shetty and Rankireddy but they didn't lose hope and made a strong comeback (15-14) before winning the game to level the match. The third game also went down to the wire where Shetty and Rankireddy reigned supreme to clinch the gold medal.
(With inputs from IANS)
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