Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy recently went to the top of the badminton men’s doubles world rankings. But it is not time to rest on laurels yet.
On the sidelines of the Bengaluru Badminton Cup 2024 hosted by Nippon Paint here, Chirag explained that gaining the status of the world’s best does not distract from the bigger goal. “What separates us from doubles players from the past is that we are never really satisfied. People say ‘you are the World No. 1 - the pinnacle of the sport’, but our hunger to win tournaments has not died. We still feel like we have just started playing on the circuit and there are many more tournaments to be won.”
Chirag stated that the appointment of Denmark’s Mathias Boe as their coach has come as a boon. “We have improved our defence quite a bit since the inclusion of Mathias. His inclusion was the game changer for us,” Chirag said.
Silencing a partisan home crowd when playing outside India gives Chirag a great deal of satisfaction. “The most hostile crowds are in China and Indonesia. When we won the Indonesia Open, we beat the then World No. 1 and home favourites Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the quarterfinals. It was a packed stadium and we could barely hear anything. It gives you a different level of high when you are able to make the crowd go silent in their own backyard,” the 26-year-old said.
