Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty Win Korea Open Beating Top Seeds

The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Indonesian top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the final of the Korea Open 2023 badminton tournament at the Jinnam Stadium on Sunday.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag won 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 in just over an hour to win their third BWF World Tour Super 500 title, extending their winning streak to 10 matches.

The Indians looked a little subdued in the beginning as they lagged behind in the opening game but they recovered in the fag end, narrowing a 10-19 deficit with a six-point burst before falling short.

However, they found the momentum in the second game and dominated the proceedings thereafter to come up trumps.

The Indonesians played flat rallies at a high pace to open up a 4-2 lead early on. The Indians were pegged back as Alfian and Ardianto didn’t allow their opponents to mount their attack.

Errors also crept in as Satwik and Chirag conceded a seven-point advantage to their rivals at the break.

The Indians won a few quick points but the Indonesians managed to move away to 16-7 after Ardianto smashed one down the middle.

Another down-the-middle smash from Ardianto took the Indonesians to 19-11. Satwik and Chirag won next three points before playing an exciting rally which ended with the Indonesians going to the net.

A booming jump smash from Satwik further cut down the deficit to three points but he sent one wide to hand four game points to the Indonesians.

The Indians saved one with Chirag’s cross court return before Satwik sprayed one to the net.

The second game started on an even keel with the two pairs engaging in some delectable rallies. The Indians infused more power and pace into their game as they started to dominate the rallies.

The Indians opened up a slender 6-4 lead after a Chirag interception and maintained it till 10-8, with Satwik unleashing his trademark smash.

The Indian duo had a cushion of three points at the break when the Indonesians went wide.

A cross court return from the front court from Chirag took them to 17-11.

Soon Satwik and Chirag grabbed nine game points. They squandered two before Chirag sent one down the middle to take the match to the decider.

Satwik and Chirag looked in control in the third game, eking out a 9-6 lead before going into the interval at 11-8.

The Indians were more aggressive and managed to keep the world number 1 pair under the pump.

After resumption, a Chirag interception helped the Indians keep the three-point lead at 13-10. Alfian and Ardianto looked a pale shadow as nothing was going their way.

Satwik and Chirag also dominated the flat exchanges and soon it was 18-12 for the Indians. Alfian produced a superb backhand return but sprayed the next one to the net to hand over seven match points to the Indians.

They wasted one before converting the next, and broke into a gangnam style dance to celebrate their victory.

Since pairing up, Satwik and Chirag have won multiple titles, including Commonwealth Games gold, Thomas Cup gold, bronze medal in World Championships and wins in Super 300 (Syed Modi and Swiss Open), Super 500 (Thailand and India Open), Super 750 (French Open) and Indonesia Open Super 1000.

The Indian pair had beaten China’s Liang Wie Keng and Wang Chang 21-15, 24-22 in the semifinals, their first-ever win over the Chinese world No. 2 duo in three meetings. Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang got the better of the Indians at the All England Open and Malaysia Open, earlier this year.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag had entered the semifinals with a straight game win over Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi with the world No.3 Indian combination, took just 40 minutes to get the better of the fifth seeded Japanese pair 21-14 21-17. They had defeated Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-14, 21-17 as well as Wei Keng Liang and Chang Wang 21-15, 24-22 in the first two rounds.

Satwik and Chirag were the only Indians left in the final stages of the tournament after the premature exits of PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth among others.

Commonwealth Games gold medalist duo of Satwik and Chirag have already won the Swiss Open, Asian Championships and Indonesia Open this year.

This was the Indian duo’s third appearance in a BWF Super 500 tournament having won in the previous two such appearances at the 2019 Thailand Open and 2022 India Open. It was also their third final of the year.

Notably, results at the Korea Open count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year. The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300.

(With inputs from Agencies)