Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India defeated Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to win the Indonesia Open.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India made history by winning the men’s doubles title at the Indonesia Open here on Sunday, becoming the country’s first pair to win a Super 1000 tournament. In a 43-minute battle, the Indians defeated the Malaysian world title combination of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 21-17, 21-18.
“We had done a great job preparing for this event.” We knew the audience would be on our side. They have been there for us the entire week. This has been an incredible week for us. Today we played fantastic badminton. We didn’t have a fantastic head-to-head record against them, so we tried to play one point at a time, and it worked,” Satwiksairaj remarked after the game.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag took the lead midway through the opening game and haven’t given their favoured opponents a chance since.
The Indian duo did not let their opponents to break away in the second game, either, as a four-point spree kept them ahead in the game.
When the Malaysians saved four match points to close the gap on their opponents, the Indians appeared to be in for an easy triumph.
The world No. 6 pair, Satwiksairaj and Chirag, who won gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and bronze at the world championships last year, could not be denied when the score read 20-18 in their favour, and this time they converted the match point to script a fantastic triumph.
The enormity of the win may be gauged by the fact that this was Satwiksairaj and Chirag’s first victory against Aaron and Soh in 11 attempts.
In fact, Satwiksairaj and Chirag’s victory at the Indonesia Open is unprecedented, since they are the first Indian doubles duo to win the title, despite Saina Nehwal (2010, 2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (2017) previously won the singles title in Jakarta.
The Indian duo is the country’s first doubles combination to win a Super 1000 championship, and they are also the first to win the country’s S100, S300, S500, S750, and S1000 competitions.
Previously, the 2022 world championships bronze medalists became the first Indian pair to reach the final of any Super 1000 competition after defeating the Korean pairing of Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 in a dramatic semi-final.
The current world champions were upset in less than an hour by the Indians, who were also Asian champions.
Chirag was exceptional at the net, with quick interceptions and defence, and was a key factor in the Indian duo winning the match.
The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels: World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and eleven Super 300. The BWF Tour Super 100 level is another event category that awards ranking points.
Each of these events has a unique set of ranking points and prize money. The Super 1000 level has the most ranking points and the largest reward money of any of the levels.
This victory at the Indonesia Open adds to the Indian duo’s already impressive resume, which includes gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, the Thomas Cup, a bronze medal at the World Championships, and victories at the Super 300 (Syed Modi), Super 500 (Thailand and India Open), and Super 750 (French Open).
Chen Yu Fei of China won the women’s singles final 21-18, 21-19 over Carolina Marin of Spain.
