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Indian duo occupy second spot on BWF World rankings
Post the final match at the China Masters last week, Satwik and Chirag moved up three spots to take second place in the global rankings, just behind Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty after winning their semifinal at the China Masters 2023. / BAI
In the most recent BWF World Rankings released last week, Indian ace shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who engaged in an intense match at the China Masters Super 750 last week, to climb three spots to take the second spot.
Despite salvaging six match points, Satwik and Chirag were defeated by world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the China Masters final. In the third and decisive game, Liang and Wang were ahead 20–13,with seven match points.
However, the Indians with their composed style of play continued to rack up points when it appeared that the Chinese were going to win the match. They brought the score to a very close 19–20, giving their opponents a tough fight.
Wang then made a swift and accurate comeback, and Chirag attempted to play an angled shot that threw the net off. Despite losing 19-21, 21-18, and 19-21, Satwik and Chirag demonstrated their mettle in a 71-minute nail-biter.
Considered among the elite players in men's doubles, the duo suffered a series of losses in the first round of the Denmark Open and Japan Masters. Satwik and Chirag, who made history on October 10 when they became the world's top players after winning the gold medal in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, had fallen to fifth place.
Their latest performance in Shenzhen has brought them up back to second place, directly behind Liang and Wang. This solidifies their path to yet another stellar season in 2024, coinciding with the Olympic Games in Paris.
In the Indian badminton scene, Satwik and Chirag achieved multiple firsts in 2023. They won the Swiss Open, the Korea Open Super500, and the Indonesia Open Super 1000. Moreover, they became the top-ranked badminton team in the world after winning gold at the October Asian Games, the first continental championship for Indian badminton.
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen is placed 17th in the men's singles category, while HS Prannoy is still the top-ranked player from India at position 8. Priyanshu Rajawat fell one spot to rank 31, while Kidambi Srikanth is now placed at 24.
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