Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty Script History In Indonesia; Becomes 1st Indian Pair To Win BWF Super 1000 Event

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to win the Indonesia Open 2023 men's doubles title.

New Delhi: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair to win a BWF Super 1000 tournament after their defeated Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the Indonesia Open 2023 men’s doubles summit clash on Sunday. It was also their first win over the Malaysian pair in ninth meeting.

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The Indian pair won the game 21-17, 21-18 to script their biggest ever win in history. Earlier, the Satwik-Chirag duo registered a come-from-behind 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 win over Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae of Korea in the semifinals. The Indians started on a backfoot, trailing 0-3 in no time in the first set.

But a cross attack from the Satwik and Chirag and a frantic, breathless passage of play saw them take six straight points to lead 11-9 in the break. The Indian duo showed stellar defensive play to lead 18-16 at one point before winning the first game with a four-point advantage.

The Indian duo kept the heat on their opponents in the second game too with pacer as Chia and Wooi Yik couldn’t get any counter-attacking with Satwik and Chirag forcing the Malaysian pair on the defence in almost every rally. The Indians, who were also Asian champions, defeated the current world champions in 43 minutes.

“It’s been an amazing week for us. I’m happy with the way we played today and the calm we had, because we had never won against them. Our head to head against them was very bad. We wanted to do well,” Satwik said after the win. His partner Chiraj thanked the crowd for the support.

“This is one of the best stadiums to play badminton in. I want to thank everyone that showed up today and cheered for us. The crowd was simply amazing. It’s very noisy. Unfortunately, this is the last time the tournament will be held in this stadium, but this is the best way to sign off from Istora,” Chirag told the stadium presenters.