CHENNAI: A week or so before the ongoing World Championships, India's doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, during an interview with The New Indian Express, had said that he and his partner Chirag Shetty were inching closer to their best and they'll be leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit to deliver 'magic' in the BWF World Tour Grade 1 competition.
True to his words, Satwik and Chirag have been conjuring magic at the Adidas Arena in Paris in the last few days. In the wee hours on Saturday, the former World No 1 pair was simply unplayable. Relentless in their approach from start to finish, they bullied the pairing of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, their familiar rivals who had caused heartaches to them in the last 12 months.
The Indian pair, after putting up a badminton clinic in the opening game, went on to hold on their advantage and get over the finish line within 43 minutes, thereby securing a spot in the semifinals, which they were scheduled to play later on Saturday. The scorecard read 21-12, 21-19 in Satwik and Chirag's favour. Their masterclass display on the night also helped them secure the coveted medal, their second after the 2022 edition. Also, it was a sweet payback of sorts for the duo who had suffered a painful defeat against the Malaysians at the same stage of the competition during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 'magic' they are producing at the moment was missing in the first-half of the season. Injuries and niggles had made their pursuit that much harder. In their most-recent competition — Macau Open — before the Worlds, they had shown some signs of promise but had been eliminated in the quarterfinal stage. Just days before that, they had shown their competitive edge to reach the semis before going down against Aaron and Soh in the last-four stage of the China Open. Satwik had said they were just on a mission to gain match-practice at the elite level. Given how their season had unfolded, there were question marks over their form heading into the Worlds.
"Feeling really good. It was a re-match of sorts from the Olympics. We finally got some redemption. It was the same court, the same arena, a year back exactly... Olympics and now the World Championships. It's always a pleasure playing against them. We've always had some tough battles at the biggest of events and really happy with the win today (Friday; IST Saturday)," Chirag said in the post-match press interaction.
The rivalry, which began with their first meeting in 2017, has produced many enthralling moments over the years. With 11 wins in 14 meetings (before Friday's tie), Aaron and Soh held the aces. But on the day, Satwik and Chirag were a step ahead in every department. They were attacking while making service returns, throwing the double Olympic medallists off guard. The Indians were also moving around the court like well-oiled machines and pouncing on every little opening that they were getting.
In the second essay, the theme continued as the Indian duo maintained their stranglehold to take a sizeable lead. But the Malaysians, towards the closing moments, offered some resistance. With some strong defense, backed up by some sharp returns, they were in with a chance of taking the match to the third game. But the Indians snuffed any hopes of Malaysian duo's potential comeback in no time. Satwik later said they they were just looking to remain patient during the closing stages. "In the second game, when we were leading, I was thinking, for sure...we won't win with this much ease, they'll come back stronger for sure because we have played against them many times... I was telling myself don't be in a hurry (to win points), keep playing, one point at a time. I had a belief that we're under control and we don't need to panic. They were under pressure and we just wanted to play our A-game and see where we would end up. That's what we have been doing from the first match. We have been focusing on ourselves and not our opponents."
