Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty Win the Korean Open World Title against Champions

On Sunday, Shetty and Rankireddy won the finals against the World No. 1 Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto (All England champions) in Yeosu, South Korea.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: 2023-07-24 08:37:59

Yeosu, a city in South Korea, will likely live on in history as the starting point for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's rise to the soon-to-be World No. 1 rankings. The World Nos. 1, 2, and 5 were defeated by the current third-ranked Indian pair at the Korean Open Super 500, which took place from July 18–23. The World No. 1 team and All England champions, Muhamad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian were defeated in the finals on Sunday by Rankireddy and Shetty, who recovered from behind to emerge victorious with 17-21, 21-13, 21-14.

The Indian team's victory on Sunday guarantees their ascent to World No. 2 when the rankings are released on Monday. If they win the Japan Open and Alfian-Ardianto loses before the quarterfinals, they may be crowned the world's best shuttler duo even sooner—possibly only next week. "This week has been fairly successful for us. After winning the Korean Open, Satwik commented, "I am thrilled with the performance today. We played some wonderful badminton. "We aim to maintain the same momentum at the Japan Open the following week. We will now return home, rest, and refocus.

Three seasons ago, after losing the French Open finals, the Indian pair has now won six matches in a row. Since then, there have been no losses — the Indonesian Open, Asian Championships, the Swiss Open, the next French Open, the Thomas Cup, and now Korea. The Indians defeated the World No. 2 Chinese team, Liang Wei Keng and Chang Wang, at the Korean Open in addition to their easy straight-set triumph over Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Japanese number 5 pair) a result they had previously struggled to achieve.

Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon of Indonesia are now the only elite team that the Indian team has never defeated. The men's team from India has never won gold at the Asian Games or World Championships, but the combination from Mumbai and Amalapuram (Andhra Pradesh) is giving fans optimism thanks to their recent hot streak. They are far superior to the other partnerships, and not simply in terms of height, according to coach Pullela Gopichand.

They both play well at the net and have a strong offense. They have a world-class assault because they take the initiative in the first two and third strokes and because they are so intense. They rank among the top pairs in the world, by a wide margin. Throughout their current 10-match winning streak, which includes Korea's title victory at the Indonesian Open last month, the Indian duo has turned around previously losing margins.

In fact, the opposition teams battled the Satwik-Chirag attack throughout the whole Korean Open; they only needed to keep the match going. This was a significant change from prior times when India dreaded badminton team championships due to subpar doubles combinations. We do not fear the Chinese, Japanese, or Koreans, Satwik-Chirag had declared following the Indonesia Open victory. They may be thinking, "Oh no, Satwik Chirag is coming after us.”