India’s high males’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty turned the primary Indian duo since Dinesh Khanna in singles in 1965 to enter the ultimate of the Badminton Asia Championships on Saturday.
The Indian duo sealed a spot within the summit conflict after their opponents, the Tokyo Olympic champions Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, retired halfway by the second recreation of their semifinal conflict.
The 22-year-old Satwiksairaj Rankireddy from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh and the 25-year-old Mumbai-born Chirag Shetty had gained the primary recreation 21-18 and have been going neck-and-neck with their Chinese Taipei opponents at 13-14 when Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin withdrew, giving them a walkover.
The Indian duo had themselves assured a medal after 52 years within the males’s doubles class after they received the higher of Indonesia’s skilled duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight video games 21-11, 21-12 within the quarterfinals.
Chirag and Satwik are the lone Indians remaining within the fray within the Asian Championships after the opposite high gamers P.V. Sindhu, H.S. Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth misplaced in earlier levels of their respective sections.
India have to date gained just one gold within the Asian Championships because it was initiated in 1962 — the gold gained by Dinesh Khanna in males’s singles in 1965.
Satwik and Chirag shall be hoping to bag the second gold for India on this mega occasion. Apart from the gold gained by Dinesh Khanna, India have gained 17 bronze medals in varied classes within the Badminton Asia Championships since 1962.
Satwik and Chirag, who gained the bronze medal in Men’s Doubles on the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo, have claimed two bronze medals within the Asian Team Championships (2016, 2020).
Whatever medal they win on Sunday would be the largest medal of their profession. The Indian duo have gained 5 titles on the BWF World Tour and have twice completed runners-up.
