Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the only duo to defeat the gold medallists at Tokyo Olympics
By this point, we are fully convinced that Lady Luck and the Sisters of Fate can also spend a wrong day in the office, since the Indian duo of the world’s No. 10 Satviksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty flew out of the Tokyo Olympics even after defeating future gold medalists Li Yang and Wang Chi-Lin from Chinese Taipei.
Yes, read that once more and let out that big sigh because sports can be a cruel place and the Wheels of Fortune do not spin in favourable directions and it clearly did not for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who made their debut at the Tokyo Olympics. The spirited youngsters headed to the Japanese capital well-knowing that they have been dealt the toughest hand as they got placed in Group A of the draw.
Not losing heart at all, Satwik-Chirag, with 2012 London Olympics silver medallist in Men’s Doubles, Mathias Boe at the coaching helm, set out to conquer the risky territories. None of the match-ups were easy and they were given a difficult puzzle to solve at their first attempt itself as they had to face-off against the World No. 3 pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, who had been on a title-rampage this whole season.
And thus, it began. The dark horses of the event, Satwik-Chirag entered the contest against the Chinese Taipei pair and displayed a body language that would generate sheer chills as they commanded the match. Pocketing the first game in 17 minutes, Satwik-Chirag made a fantastic start and pushed the Taipei pair’s back against the wall before they began to resist in the second game. Needing 20 minutes of intense badminton, the World No. 3 pair wrestled out the second game from the motivated Indian pair and towed the match to a decider.
This was perhaps the most climactic game as there were rapid exchanges of service and switching of match points at every alternate second – making the match just about anybody’s to take. Yet, Satwik-Chirag were not to be denied on their first outing and showed great character to miraculously close out the match after offering a nail-biter to win, 16-21, 21-16, 25-27.
