Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty for winning a historic gold medal at the Asia Badminton Championships in Dubai on Sunday.
PM Modi took to Twitter and wrote, “Proud of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty for scripting history by becoming the first Indian Men’s Doubles pair to win the Badminton Asia Championships Title. Congratulations to them and wishing them the very best for their future endeavours.”
Abhinav Bindra, India’s first individual gold medallist, also congratulated the duo and tweeted, “Congratulations Chirag and Satwik on your incredible win at the Asian Badminton Championships! Your hard work and dedication have paid off, and you have made India proud. Keep up the fantastic performances!”
Sanjay Mishra, General Secretary of the Badminton Association of India, also congratulated Satwik and Chirag, saying “I congratulate Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy for creating history at the Badminton Asia Championships. They played brilliantly during the whole tournament. The amount of composure they showed, even in the most crunch situations, is applaudable. This is their first medal in the Badminton Asia Championships and I hope they continue their impressive run in the upcoming competitions as well.
The Indian duo ended a 58-year-old drought, becoming the first Indian Men’s Doubles pair since Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the continental championships.
In the final match, Satwik and Chirag made a sensational comeback after losing the opening game to edge past the Malaysian pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi with a score of 16-21, 21-17, 21-19.
Khanna remains the only Indian to claim the gold medal, having achieved the feat by defeating Thailand’s Sangob Rattanusorn in the Men’s Singles Final in 1965 at Lucknow.
India’s previous best performance in Men’s Doubles at the Asia Championships was a bronze-medal finish by Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh in 1971.
Satwik and Chirag, who previously won the Swiss Open Super 300 title in Basel, showed tremendous grit as they never gave up after losing the first game and being 7-13 and 11-15 in the second and third game. They secured India’s first gold in doubles.
This was the second title of the season for the duo, who have been India’s top-performing shuttlers this year. In addition to the Badminton Asia Championships title, Satwik and Chirag have also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games and five career titles on the BWF World Tour.
The two pairs came face-to-face in the final after sharing the honours in six meetings, with Satwik and Chirag emerging victorious in the semi-final of the Swiss Open in March this year.