Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty become Thailand Open men’s doubles champions. badminton news

The star Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got a big boost ahead of the Paris Olympics as they clinched the men’s doubles title at the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton tournament with a straight-game win over China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi on Sunday. , In the form of their lives, Satwik and Chirag, the world number three pair, cruised to their ninth BWF World Tour title with a 21-15, 21-15 win over 29th-ranked Liu and Chen. It was also the second title of the season for the Asian Games champion after her victory at the French Open Super 750 in March. He was also the runner-up in Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750.

After the win, Chirag said, “Bangkok has always been special for us, we won our first Super Series title here in 2019 and also won the Thomas Cup, so it has been a special place and it is great to be here.”

For Satwik and Chirag, this title comes at a turning point in their careers as they had had some low returns in the last few tournaments.

The Indian pair lost in the second round of the All England Championships and then missed the Asia Championships due to Satwik’s injury.

The Thomas Cup campaign was also not very fruitful as they lost some close matches to the top pairs.

Satwik and Chirag had reached the Thailand Open final without losing a single game and were favorites to win the title, while Liu and Chen also had some impressive wins ahead of the summit clash and earned the reputation of never losing a final.

However, it was always going to be a tough task to tame the top-seeded Indians, who did not allow the Chinese to go into long rallies or maintain any pressure.

Satwik and Chirag made a great start and soon took a 5-1 lead. Chen and Liu stormed back to a four-point lead.

At 7-7, the Chinese pair won a 39-shot rally and went 10-7 ahead before spraying a long. Liu and Chen played some intense rallies but Chirag hit back to level the score at 10-10, but Liu ensured he had a slight lead at the break.

Satwik and Chirag went to 14-11 after the restart before Satwik scored a goal. Indians increased the lead to 16-12. Liu sent a ball over Satwik’s head to score a point while Chirag sniped into the net as the Chinese players kept attacking his heels.

However, the Indians soon grabbed five game points, with Satwik sending one into the corner and then producing another superb serve which the Chinese player could only slot into the net.

The Indians made a solid 8-3 start after the change of sides and maintained a five-point cushion at the interval when the Chinese netted one.

Chen and Liu scored three consecutive points but Satvik broke the momentum of the game with an aggressive return. At 15-11, Satwik received a warning for delaying the game and with Chirag overheating twice, Chen and Liu fell to 14-15.

But the Indians dashed any hopes of a comeback as Chirag scored a point with excellent placement and Satwik provided the finishing touch to go up 17-15. After this, Liu sprayed the net and the Indians again created a three-point lead.

After this, Satwik scored five match points with a powerful smash. After this the Chinese sent Chirag’s smash into the net. As part of the celebration, Satwik started dancing with his racket while Chirag threw his shirt into the crowd.