CHENNAI: After the final against the Malaysians on Sunday, Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, Chirag Shetty and Mathias Boe decided to surprise the third person in Indian badminton’s first family. So, rather than taking Satwiksairaj Rankireddy to a Michelin-star restaurant in Dubai, they took him to an Indian restaurant.
“They always prefer Japanese or Italian so when we went to an Indian restaurant, it made me very happy. Actually, it made me happier than when we won the tournament (Badminton Asia Championships),” he says, tongue in cheek, to this daily.
About the tournament itself, the duo didn’t have a specific goal. When they saw the draw, the minimum expectation was the quarterfinals. “If we play to our minimum level, we can reach the quarters,” that was the thinking before the tournament. The reason behind that thinking was Rankireddy had stuck to off-court training and gym work till one week before the event.
“Personally, I wasn’t practicing that much. I was having some off time... I was carrying some niggles so I was focusing more on off-the-court stuff. After Spain (Madrid Masters from March 28-April 2), we had like 1.5 weeks here and there. I was training only off the court. Only one week before the tournament, did I take the racquet for proper on-court training.
“After the first-round win, I felt very comfortable on court, I was moving freely and was injury free. We played some amazing badminton. The confidence really grew.” The apogee of that confidence was reflected in that 27-minute beatdown of the Daddies (Indonesia’s Hendra Satiawan and Mohammad Ahsan) in the quarterfinals. While Shetty calls it as ‘one of the best games we have ever played’, the 22-year-old Rankireddy says they always knew it would be a short match, one way or another.
“We expected... we either thought we would lose easily or win easily. We knew it wouldn’t be a close game, match would finish under 40 minutes. Our focus was to be aware of the situation, don’t give them a good rhythm as they come back anytime. We were focussing on service and receiving only. We felt more comfortable after the first game. They were playing what they normally do but we are more aware of what they will do, what their next step will be so that was easy for us.”
Doing his thing on the court has always been easy for one-half of India’s history-making duo. The more mentally challenging aspect for Rankireddy has been off the court. “Food habits, sleeping, post dinner snack,” he smiles. “It’s a mental thing,” he says. “Always believe that my strong suit is on the court. My weakness is off court. Because of my attacking game, I may carry some injury as I tend to jump here and there. I also carry some extra weight (he has already lost a lot of weight). I want to reduce more weight and be quicker across the court.
“Mentally, it’s tough for me to reduce my habits but I have made a conscious decision to change, including cutting down on rice in the night and avoiding munching on biscuits after dinner. I have become more professional in this aspect,” he says. The makeover, at least partly, was after feeling sorry for Shetty. “Because of my injuries only he (Shetty) was also losing chances to play. Decided to become more professional this time.
“I was through this phase for the last year, play one tournament, pick up an injury, rest, play another tournament, pick up another injury...” That’s predominantly why they have only played 12 tournaments while the top four men’s doubles pairs have played at least 16. This year, too, they have missed a few competitions but the Amalapuram native is determined to make up for lost time. However, not everyone is thrilled with his transformation which has even seen him cut out losing some power from his smashes.
" What’s wrong with you?’,” that’s what people ask him whenever he goes back to Amalapuram. “’Are you not eating well? Where’s the power in your smashes?’ are some of the questions I get when I go back,” he says. “The thing I tell them is ‘you can’t keep bowling at 150 kmph every ball no’? You will have to have that change of pace. The A game is always there but I also have to respect my body.
Respecting his body has meant eliminating chocolates as well. “I eat south Indian food, so some rice definitely in the night. If I do a good session, I get so excited I eat whatever I want. Go out with friends, have some starter, maybe a chicken item. I mean, it’s not junk or fried or anything but it’s a way to beat the stress when I meet my friends before coming back to practice again. I have reduced that a lot. Compared to five years ago, this is a very different Satwik.”