CHENNAI: It is not easy to be ranked No 1 in any sport. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication and consistency over a period of time. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who along with Chirag Shetty, is ranked World No 1 in doubles (badminton) is enjoying every moment of it.
Satwiksairaj was in the city as a chief guest of the Nippon Paint Under-19 badminton tournament. He took a break and shared his thoughts on the Paris Olympics and his journey to becoming the World No1.The duo had an exceptional 2022 winning the India Open and played a crucial role in India’s historic maiden victory at the Thomas Cup. They became the first Indian doubles pair to win Commonwealth Games gold, the first to medal at the World Championships and again the first to win a Super 750 event. Last year too they were formidable, winning India’s first-ever doubles gold at the Asian Games. Naturally, with Paris Olympics looming, expectations are high. ‘’We have not started yet preparing for the Olympics.
We see it (Olympics) as a big picture, as we have many more tournaments before Olympics. The All England is coming up, we want to do well. And then we have the Thomas Cup, defending it will be very, very special for all of us. We will focus on the Olympics after a few more events,’’ said Satwiksairaj. ‘’Back in the mind we have a thought of preparing for Olympics, but we haven’t started anything special.”
Coach Mathias Boe has the habit of watching videos in order to prepare for events and evolve strategies about opponent players. Satwiksairaj has his take while preparing for the Olympics. ‘’As I said, we haven’t started yet, but we all will do before every match. It depends on the opponent with whom you are playing, depends on the draw and with whom we are playing and before the match day. I mean if you’re playing tomorrow, the previous night, we do sit together me, Chirag and our coach, we discuss a few things, more about the strategy and things. Then we follow that on the next day,’’ he said.
Boe brought in a lot of professionalism into the players and one of them is change in sleep cycle for optimum performance over a period of time. “I mean compared to before we became more professional say two-three years back. I am 23 right now, 2-3 years back when I was 20, I was a kid who wanted to use phone, watch movies, eat outside food, go out for movies with friends. So then later on Mathias came, it was more about professionalism,’’ he said.
On keeping away from mobile phone, he said, “I don’t do that (switch off totally). The phone is there to keep you in touch. If I’m in my zone, I don’t talk to anyone. I just talk to my parents. That too only with mother and my brother. Otherwise I don’t talk with anyone. If I’m in a tournament or if I’m practice also, I don’t pick it up. It will be like completely off.”