Rankireddy-Shetty enter final, make history

Bangkok, August 3

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to enter the final of a BWF Super 500 tournament with a three-game win in the Thailand Open semifinals. 

The world No. 16 Indian duo prevailed over the 19th-ranked South Korean team of Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol, winning 22-20 22-24 21-9 after battling hard for 63 minutes.

It is the first final of the season for Rankireddy and Shetty, the men’s doubles silver medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The unseeded Indian combination will face third seeds Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the summit clash on Sunday.

Rankireddy and Shetty were slow off the blocks as the Korean pair had the better share of exchanges in the first game to lead 3-0 and then 11-10 at the break. The Indians drew parity at 13 apiece before surging ahead to 20-18. But Hyun and Cheol pocketed two consecutive points to draw level at 20-20. The Indians kept their composure and earned two crucial points to take the first game.

Turnaround

It was the other way round in the second game as Rankireddy and Shetty came out positive to take a 3-0 lead initially. The Koreans, however, fought back with some smart play at the net and overhead smashes to lead 11-9 at the break, which they later extended to 19-12. But the Indians clawed back to make it 20-20. The two pairs fought tooth and nail before the Koreans eventually pocketed the second game 24-22 to stretch the match into the decider.

In the final game, Rankireddy and Shetty easily sealed the match.     “Well, I feel that both of us became a lot more calmer and that was the major improvement,” Rankireddy said after the win. 

“We missed two match points in the second game. But we were able to win the decider quite comfortably because we were calm. We weren’t eager to score points. Whenever we had chances we went for them. We didn’t rush and that’s why we didn’t commit mistakes. The highlight of the match was obviously the last point as it was simply amazing to win a semifinal match against Hyun and Cheol as we have looked up to them in the past. So it was special,” Shetty added. — PTI