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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty scripted history by winning India's first-ever gold medal in men's doubles at the Indonesia Open.
Rankireddy and Shetty beat Malaysian pair Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh 21-17, 21-18 in the final in Jakarta on Sunday, June 18. The win saw them become the first Indian pair to win a Super 1000 badminton title.
Fans were quick to praise the World No. 6 duo for the win, with some claiming that the shuttlers can produce the goods at the 2024 Paris Olympics too.
"Bit early.. they are best hope to bring a GOLD in Paris.. now they shud pick n choose events n fully prepared for GOLD..!!!" - one fan said.
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"This duo has everything to win Olympics next year. The only consistent Indian representation and you can see very clearly how strategically astute their game is. Mathias Boe has much to thank for that. Loved every aspect of today's dominating game! Congratulations!!!" - another fan proclaimed.
Another fan called them GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) and called for a statue to be built in their honour.
"Make a statue of them, Goats," a tweet read.
Here are a few more fan reactions:
“We stuck to the plan right till the end” - Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy break losing streak against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooh Yik
Before the 2023 Indonesian Open final, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced Aaron Chia and Soh Wooh Yik eight times on the tour and never managed to eke out a win.
The Indian duo finally broke that losing streak in dominant fashion, defeating the Malaysian world champions in straight games in just 43 minutes.
Speaking after the win, Shetty stated that the key to the win was sticking to the game plan and never giving them a chance to mount a comeback.
“In the earlier eight matches against them, we would hold ourselves back, but today we stuck to the plan," said Shetty."We felt they are humans, they are players, and they will also make mistakes. We stuck to the plan right till the end and never really gave them a chance to come back." (via BFI)
Chirag Shetty added:
“Even in the second game when they took a couple of points, we were like we don’t have to hold ourselves back and play safe that would have made the game a little slow and they are good at capitalising on. Am really happy and we really needed this win."
Rankireddy echoed Shetty's views and said that they relied on their abilities to come through without panicking.
“I am still happy with the way we played. It felt like a new day, playing new opponents," said Rankireddy. "We were down 8-0 in head-to-head, but I wasn’t thinking much about it. I thought to myself this was a final and both teams were under pressure and if we play good we will win. We were under control when we got a strike in the first game. I said to myself it’s our day don’t panic and just play like any other final."
