The Indian badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have underlined the importance of the phrase 'opposites attract.'
Andhra-born Satwik lives on spicy food, while Chirag, from Mumbai, prefers sushi and stays far away from the Telugu films that keep his partner entertained.
Satwik was closer to the sport while growing up; his father, Viswanadham Rankireddy, was a state-level player. Chirag, on the other hand, is the son of a hotelier.
On the badminton court, however, these two gentlemen are tuned to each other's tactics. They create a strange syncopation with agility, deception, and power. Satwik and Chirag's hand in India's maiden Thomas Cup triumph may help place the doubles category at a higher pedestal.
India beat Indonesia 3-0 and the duo got the better of Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, and 21-19.
The History of Doubles in India
In India, the badminton spotlight has always been on singles players. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's World Championship bronze in 2011 ushered in the winds of change, but the problem of funding and specialist coaches persisted.
Tan Kim Her made players out of Satwik and Chirag since his arrival in 2015. He stepped down in 2019 citing personal reasons, and while there were talks of him making a comeback this year, the deal fell through.
Flandy Limpele, who succeeded Tan in the interim period, resigned within a year, expressing displeasure over the singles-oriented badminton culture in India, leaving Satwik and Chirag pretty much fending for themselves. This was before they approached Mathias Boe and moved their training to Mumbai to work with the former Olympics silver medallist.
The former shuttler had previously worked with the duo during the Tokyo Olympics but his contract under the TOPS scheme expired after the Games last year. In April 2022, his services were retained and he was offered financial assistance of Rs 7 lakh per month.
Over the last few decades, there have also been makeshift doubles teams from India comprising shuttlers from the singles category, but the skills for doubles are slightly different as it involves teamwork and coordination.
Satwik and Chirag have been consistent ever since their mirror-cracking start in the Commonwealth Games in 2018, followed by the Super 500 tournament in Thailand in 2019, and the French Open Super 750.
A Long Stretch With No Coach, Many Obstacles
Satwik and Chirag are tall and quick on their feet; both of them can handle the back end of the court as well as the angle in the returns. They know all the shots by the book – the crosscourt kill, deceptive dropshots – and in the Thomas Cup, their opponents could not read the flick serve by Chirag.
The duo, who were without a coach of their own for long periods, deserve credit for staying motivated and finding ways to win. They trained under Pullela Gopichand and a few other sets of Indian and foreign coaches in the interim before finally collaborating with Boe earlier this year.
Training under different minds may have opened up horizons for them but it could not streamline the activities of the doubles pair as every training session requires scheduled tasks for a particular goal; it needs extensive planning and workload management.
Satwik and Chirag could not qualify for the quarterfinal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but they had won two out of the three group matches. And from October 2021, they were without a coach. Satwik had also sustained a knee injury, which pulled them out of the BWF World Tour Finals at the end of the year.
A Winning Start to 2022
The duo started 2022 with their maiden India Open title, which brought them back in the reckoning. They beat the Indonesian pair of Ashan and Hendra Setiawan 21-16, 26-24 in New Delhi to start the new season on a high.
It helped them start afresh after the heartbreak of Tokyo and the World Championship in 2021. The victory at home was crucial for the duo to clear the doubts and bouts of negativity.
It perhaps paved the way in preparing better for the bigger tournaments, and the return of Tan at the right time injected venom into their playing style. The confidence soared and the attacking game improved by a mile.
Thomas Cup Euphoria
Come-from-behind victories are special in high-pressure tournaments. And Satwik and Chirag roared like lions to tame the mighty Indonesians on the court in Sunday's final.
The duo was trailing 18-21 after the first game. A calm mind and self-belief helped them pull things back in the second game with 23-21, and then finally, seal the deal with the final score of 21-19.
The 24-year-old Chirag is more animated on the court, and his loud roars brought the best game out of the quiet Satwik, who is three years younger than him. The pair held their nerve to send down the angular returns with soft hands and jumped with conviction to smash the 14-time champions out of the race.
Vimal Kumar, who is with the team in Bangkok, compared the historic victory to the Indian cricket team's triumph in the 1983 World Cup. "All I can say is that I am glad to be part of this historic feat and the acumen of our fantastic players. It is a great day for Indian badminton. What these guys have done is what the cricketers did in 1983. It is something very similar," he told The Quint from Bangkok.
Like a rockstar at a concert, Chirag flung his shirt off and the muscular figure sent a strong message: do not write doubles players off, as they can create history.
(Wriddhaayan is an independent sports journalist based in Kolkata. He enjoys playing multiple sports when not reporting on it.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)