HYDERABAD: While millions across the world were celebrating the festival of lights on Sunday, a young Indian duo was hard at work in France. They were playing in the final of French Open (BWF World Tour Super 750), one of the biggest tournaments in badminton. Though Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty could not overcome the World No 1 pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia, losing 18-21, 16-21, they did enough to establish that the Thailand Open (World Tour Super 500) win in August was no flash in the pan.
In the months after that win, the youngsters had not been able to make a mark until the French Open came along. First, they missed out on about 45 days of action due to injuries, and then their much-awaited comeback had looked off colour. While Satwik’s shoulder and Chirag’s abdominal muscles had healed, the results were not coming.
After missing out on a shot at the Worlds medal, they played three tournaments with ordinary results. Then they got to ‘home away from home’, as Chirag calls France. “It (French Open) has always been one of the most favourite venues for us. We have always played well here. The conditions suit our style of play. There is almost no drift, which is great,” the 22-year-old told this newspaper after the final. While making history — they became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to reach a World Tour 750 final — they toppled many stronger and more fancied pairs, including the reigning World Champion duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-18, 18-21, 21-13 in the round of 16.
Asked about the reason behind the sudden turnaround in fortunes, Chirag said: “It was not as if we were not playing well before the French Open. It was just that we lost a few really close encounters. But we kept on working hard with our new coach (Flandy Limpele), and things worked out. We have been paying a lot of attention to our fitness ever since he came. There are a lot of off-court drills. All of that helped in this campaign. We did not attempt anything out of the ordinary for this tournament.”
With just nine months to go before the Tokyo Olympics, the pressure of qualifying for the quadrennial showpiece is also increasing. They need to be in the top-16 of the BWF world rankings to do that. After the French sojourn, the World No 11 pair is expected to break into the top-10.
“We are not thinking that far at the moment. It is just one tournament at a time for us. If we play two good tournaments, I think qualification would not be a problem,” the Mumbai lad, who is part of the national camp at the Pullela Gopichand Academy, opined.
It was at this very event two seasons ago, when the pair had given a glimpse of their talent by reaching the quarters. They reached the semis in 2018 and made the final this time. If injuries do not bother them, a victory in the next year’s edition would not come as a surprise.