Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian badminton duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the world ranked 1 duo, Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, to win the 2023 edition of the Korea Open. The remarkable achievement was met with much applause on social media, as Indians celebrated the feat. The final for the men’s doubles category was held at Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu, Korea on Sunday.
After losing the first set, the Indian duo didn’t lose their spirit and came back to win the match and lift the title 17-21, 21-13, 21-14. The Indonesian duo was the first seed entering the Super 500 tournament. Rankireddy and Shetty’s incredible run also featured a memorable semi-final victory over the World No.2 duo, China’s Liang Wai Keng and Wang Cheng on Saturday. The forty-minute duel, which was also contested at the Jinnam Stadium, ended 21-15, 24-22. It was also the first time the Indian duo, who are ranked third in the world, beat their Chinese counterparts, having lost twice to the pair before the Korea Open. Following their impressive show, the Indian duo is expected to move upto World No. 2.
Hattrick of victories for Sat-Chi pair
India’s Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Anurag Thakur also responded on the duo’s third BWF Super 500 win. Taking it to Twitter, the Minister wrote, “Hattrick of Victories for Sat-Chi!” with a crown emoji.
People from across genres took a moment to laud the Indian pair for yet another remarkable achievement and etching India’s name in the history books. Many were optimistic about the pair’s chances at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
Check out the reactions here:
It is to be noted that Korea Open results do count towards qualification for the Paris games, the window for which started on May 1 of this year. The pair of Shetty and Rankireddy have shown strong performances and won multiple titles including gold at the Commonwealth Games, bronze in the World Championships and wins in the Syed Modi, Swiss Open, India Open and Thailand Open, French Open and Indonesia Open.
