Redemption for Satwik-Chirag in Paris after a year of hardship

A year ago, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had walked into the Adidas Arena in Paris looking to continue Indian badminton’s medal-winning run at the Olympics.

- Sandip Sikdar

Seeded third in men’s doubles, they were one of the favourites to medal in the Games.

But Malaysian pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik broke Indian hearts by halting the duo’s run in the quarterfinals, ending the country’s hopes of winning a fourth successive Olympic medal in badminton.

It was deja vu late on Friday as the same pairs faced each other at the same venue and at the same stage, this time at the BWF World Championships. And it was Rankireddy and Shetty who came out on top to take revenge, beating the Malaysian world No.2 pair 21-12, 21-19 in 43 minutes to improve their head-to-head to 4-11.

“The feeling is really good. It was a rematch of sorts from the Olympics. And we finally got some redemption. It was the same court, same arena, a year back exactly. It's always a pleasure playing against them. We've always had some really tough battles at the biggest of events. Really happy we could win,” said Shetty.