Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty win fourth title of the year at Korea Open
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy win their fourth championship of the year at the Korea Open. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India continued their unbeaten streak by defeating top-ranked Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in the men’s doubles final of the Korea Open in a hard-fought three-game match on Sunday. The world No. 3 Indians, who were competing in their fourth annual final, outlasted two-time world championship bronze medalists Alfian and Ardianto in an intense summit match of the Super 500 badminton competition by scores of 17-21, 21-13, and 21-14.
After winning the Swiss Open, Asian Championships, and Indonesia Open this year, Satwik and Chirag, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champions, increased their winning run to 10 matches and added another achievement to their resume. The Indian team had a 2-2 head-to-head record against the silver medalists from the Asian Games, Alfian and Ardianto, although they had recently defeated the Indonesians twice.
The Indians started off a little hesitant because they were behind in the first game, but they came back in the last minutes, cutting a 10-19 deficit to six points before losing. However, they gained momentum in the second game and then controlled the rest of the match to win.The Indonesians played flat rallies at a high pace to open up a 4-2 lead early on. The Indians were pegged back as Alfian and Ardianto didn’t allow their opponents to mount their attack.
As Satwik and Chirag allowed their opponents to lead by seven points at the half, mistakes started to creep in. The Indonesians moved ahead to 16-7 after Ardianto slammed one into the center, despite the Indians scoring a few quick points. The Indonesians increased their lead to 19-11 on another down-the-middle slam from Ardianto. Prior to playing an intense rally that resulted in the Indonesians scoring, Satwik and Chirag won the following three points. Satwik’s thunderous leap smash reduced the margin to three points, but he missed, giving the Indonesians four game points. Before Satwik smacked one into the net, the Indians rescued one with Chirag’s cross-court return.
Soon Satwik and Chirag grabbed nine game points. They squandered two before Chirag sent one down the middle to take the match to the decider. Satwik and Chirag looked in control in the third game, eking out a 9-6 lead before going into the interval at 11-8. The Indians were more aggressive and managed to keep the world number 1 pair under the pump.
After resumption, a Chirag interception helped the Indians keep the three-point lead at 13-10. Alfian and Ardianto looked a pale shadow as nothing was going their way. Satwik and Chirag also dominated the flat exchanges and soon it was 18-12 for the Indians. Alfian produced a superb backhand return but sprayed the next one to the net to hand over seven match points to the Indians. They wasted one before converting the next, and broke into a gangnam style dance to celebrate their victory.
Since pairing up, Satwik and Chirag have won multiple titles, including Commonwealth Games gold, Thomas Cup gold, bronze medal in World Championships and wins in Super 300 (Syed Modi and Swiss Open), Super 500 (Thailand and India Open), Super 750 (French Open) and Indonesia Open Super 1000.
