"We are not done yet" - Determined Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty set eyes on India Open title after runner-up finish in Malaysia
India's leading men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had a near-perfect start to their season at the Malaysia Open. The world No. 2 pair made it all the way to the finals without dropping a single game, before falling short in the summit clash to top seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
This marks their fourth loss to this Chinese pair. While Rankireddy and Shetty began the match looking infallible, they stumbled in the decider, squandering a precious lead and a BWF World Tour Super 1000 title with it.
The Indians, however, aren't too phased by their defeat and are keen to keep the momentum going as they get down to business on home ground next week at the India Open.
“We want to do well in our home country next week, so we don’t want to relax with this, we are more hungry and next week also, we want to do well in front of our home crowd,” Satwiksairaj Rankireddy said after the Malaysia Open finals.
Chirag Shetty echoed his partner’s sentiment, saying:
“We obviously could have played a lot better towards the end. I think what’s important is to look at the positives also, we have played some good badminton here but we are not done yet. India Open is coming up next week and we want to go one better.”
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty at the India Open
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Asian Games gold-medalist and the best doubles pair India has ever produced, will next be in action on home ground.
Participating in the India Open Super 750, the duo will take to the IG Stadium in Delhi in hopes of claiming their first title of the year. Seeded second in the tournament, Rankireddy and Shetty will encounter Chinese Taipei's Fang-Chih Lee in their opening match.
The Indians are in the same half as Malaysian fourth seeds Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Tik and Chinese eighth seeds Liu Yu Chen/Ou Xuan Yi and are likely to run into either pair on their way to the final. Before that, however, they will most probably have to battle Danes Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen in their quarterfinal.
If Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty do make it to the finals, the match is likely to be a repeat of the Malaysia Open, with Indian badminton fans rooting for reversed results this time around.