“Gearing up to defend the title at Thomas Cup” - Satwik-Chirag set to be back for India's title defence
World no.1 doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are all set to make a comeback in the Thomas Cup, starting from April 28. Notably, the duo pulled out of the upcoming Badminton Asia Championships after Satwik injured his shoulder.
Satwik took to Instagram to confirm his availability for India’s title defense at the Thomas Cup in Thailand.
“The good news is that I’m already back on court training completely and gearing up to defend the title at Thomas Cup,” Satwik wrote.
It’s important to note that India are the defending champion of the Thomas Cup. The in-form duo played an important role in India clinching the world’s men’s team championship title in 2022.
They defeated the pairing of Kim Astrup and Mathias Christiansen from Denmark in the semi-final and Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo from Indonesia in the final to clinch a historic title for Team India.
Satwik-Chirag duo has been in exceptional form
Remarkably, the Indian pair bagged the men’s doubles gold medal in the Asian Games along with the men’s team silver medal. Moreover, they have reached three finals since January - Malaysia Open, India Open, and French Open.
Though they suffered defeats in the final of the Malaysia Open and India Open, the duo came back stronger, reclaiming the French Open title after winning it for the first time in 2022. However, the duo has been out of the court since their exit from the All England Open in March 2024.
"To all the people wondering why we are not taking the court this week… I had been going through a shoulder niggle for sometime now and having played intense games in the past months it flared up a little," Satwik wrote.
"After consulting my support team I decided to pull out of the Asian championships and use this time to recover. Thanks to all the fans and well-wishers who have supported me and Chirag constantly in this journey to the top, wouldn’t be possible without you all..! See you soon at the TUC finals in Chengdu," Satwik went on to add.