Picture Credit: Twitter
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday, 21 November announced the nominees for the Player of the Year Awards, set to take place in December 2023. The esteemed list of players nominated for various awards across categories also include the name of former World No. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
The Indian men’s doubles pair was nominated alongside China’s women’s doubles pair of Chen Qing Chen - Jia Yi Fan, mixed doubles pair of Zheng Si Wei - Huang Ya Qiong (China) and Seo Seung Jae - Chae Yu Jung (Korea). Talking about the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, the pair became the first Indian pair to become World No. 1 on the back of titles at the Badminton Asia Championships, Indonesia Open 2023, Korea Open 2023 and the Asian Games 2023.
Notably, they gained their world best career ranking after beating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik at the 2023 Indonesia Open, also etching history to become the first Indian pair to win the BWF World Super 100 title.
Thulasimathi Murugesan nominated among Female Para Badminton Player of the Year 2023
The Women’s singles winner at the Asian Para Games, Thulasimathi Murugesan currently ranks World No. 2 in WD SL3-SU5, eighth in the XD SL3-SU5 and fourth in WS SU5. The Indian para-shuttler beat the home favourite, China’s Yang Qiuxia 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) to clinch gold in the SU5 category at the Asian Para Game 2023.
Alongside Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia), Rina Marlina (Indonesia), Sarina Satomi (Japan), Pilar Jauregui Cancino (Peru) and Man-kei To (Belgium).
