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Satwik and Chirag are new Asia champions
Pair ends India’s 58-year-old medal drought with win over Malaysia's eighth seeds
Dubai : Star doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Sunday broke a 58-year-old drought, becoming the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the Asia badminton Championships here
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history by beating Malaysia's eighth seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the men's doubles final here.
Shetty and Rankireddy defeated the Malaysians Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in the final in the 2023 edition, coming back from losing the first game to win the next two games and winning the historic gold medal.
This was India's second gold medal in the Asian Badminton Championships after Dinesh Khanna bagged the men's singles gold in 1965. Satwik and Chirag are also the first Indian pair to reach the final of the Asian Championship and went on to win the gold medal.
Shetty and Rankireddy, who won the bronze medal in Men's Doubles at the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo, have claimed two bronze medals in the Asian Team Championships (2016, 2020).
The gold on Sunday could be considered the biggest medal in their career thus far as the Indian duo has won five titles on the BWF World Tour and have twice finished runners-up.
Shetty and Rankireddy started the final on a bright note and played some ferocious shots to get into the right rhythm. They were behind only by a point (10-11) at the halfway stage. However, the Indian pair soon lost momentum as Sin and Yi encashed upon their mistakes to take the first game.
The Malaysian pair continued their momentum in the second game as they took (11-6) lead at the halfway stage. It appeared like it was all over for Shetty and Rankireddy but they didn't lose hope and made a strong comeback (15-14) before winning the game to level the match. The third game also went down to the wire where Shetty and Rankireddy reigned supreme to clinch the gold medal. This is the first-ever gold medal for India at the Badminton Asia Championships in the men's doubles category. Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh won a bronze medal in 1971 when they reached the semifinals of the competition.
