Bengaluiru: Doubles in badminton is a flow. Not the calm river water for paddling, but the rough white water rapids that lure you for rafting.
Double in badminton, for the longest time, was a tough nut to crack for several Indian pairs. So much so that the event was considered the ‘weakest link’ in the team’s set-up.
From Nandu Natekar (who played singles along with doubles and mixed doubles as early as the 1950s) to Prakash Padukone, from Syed Modi to Pullela Gopichand, from Aparna Popat to Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, it was always the singles that hogged the limelight. And rightly so.
It was the Ghosh brothers - Dipu and Romen - who made the first real noise in the 1960s before Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar brought doubles back to the fore in early 2000s. Though U Vimal Kumar, partnering Deepankar Bhattacharya, represented the country in both men’s singles and doubles when the sport became a medal event at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, no significant performance at the international stage on a consistent basis meant that doubles always remained at the backstage.
That changed in 2016. The year that will be remembered for the birth of foes-turned-partners who would go on to break the shackles doubles was tied in.
Different backgrounds and upbringing. Communication issues. Senior-junior ego hassles. Both attackers, who loved playing from the back court. Each of them wanting to beat the other at every junior tournament they played facing each other.
Would such a combination really work?
It could and it did.
It had every ingredient to create magic, so thought the then national doubles coach Tan Kim Her of Malaysia who was the catalyst in pairing Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
Helping the duo overcome the off/on-court differences, Kim Her then and Mathias Boe now have helped shape one of the most formidable combinations in world badminton today.
“Even if Satwik and Chirag are having an off day, the opponents, whether it is the Chinese, Danes or the Koreans, are all worried. Their coaches are always studying them. They have set the bar really high,” observes Vimal, Director and Head Coach at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.
“That shows how competitive and fierce these two are. It’s good to see an Indian doubles pair in such a dominating position. The spotlight from singles to doubles has truly shifted,” added the 61-year-old.
Having shed their differences, the high-energy chemistry between the two is evident. Roars of ‘come ons’, the passionate fist pumps and hi-fives, screams of ‘maar’ (hit) innumerable times during a match, the cocky ‘we will get you’ smile even if they are trailing and turning the court into a dance floor after every win... There is never a dearth of showmanship.
What has propelled them to such heights?
Game-wise they complement each other well with Chirag creating openings at the net and Satwik having the power to finish the point from the back. In fact, Satwik set a new record for the fastest hit by a make player at 565 km/hour recently.
Working constantly on mastering the techniques and variations, better fitness, nutrition... Nothing that we haven’t heard of before. Come to think of it, every elite athlete works on the exact same things. What then sets them apart?
Aparna Popat, two-time Olympian and nine-time women’s singles national champion, has an answer to that.
“What really stands out for me is that these guys have had the patience to stick to the plan,” she says.
“Which means they have had the same vision for over a number of years to say ‘this is what we want to achieve’. They do this as a pair. Sometimes there is a misalignment of beliefs like ‘you think you can be world No. 1, but I’m a bit doubtful’ and such. It’s a balancing act. To stay true to that discipline even when they faced a lot of challenges,” Aparna explains.
“In between, they didn’t have a coach. But they still managed. There were no excuses like ‘sorry, we were good but now we don’t have a coach and we can’t do this or that’. There was absolutely nothing of that sort. Instead, they told themselves ‘we need to achieve. Let’s find a way and get on with it’.
In a podcast with Aparna recently, the duo spoke about the times without a coach. Satwik made the training plans and were in touch with Boe throughout. They were training a group of players along with themselves at the academy. This was a period before the 2020 Olympics during the previous qualification cycle when they were running out of time to book their berth to Tokyo.
What Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi did to doubles in tennis a few years ago, Satwik-Chirag are doing the same in the shuttle game in the country.
“Today, students want to start playing doubles right away. Singles and doubles were always different, just like a marathon runner and a sprinter. But people didn’t pay heed. Their on-court persona and the fearless attitude they exhibit is addictive. This has caused a shift in the mindset. Finally!,” feels Jagadish Yadav, a former doubles player and now coach of national doubles champions Ashwini Bhat, Shikha Gautham, Poorvisha Ram, Prakash Raj, Kushal Raj among others.
The history-making duo has been on a roll and it might just be getting increasingly tough to keep track of all their exploits. Satwik and Chirag became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to win an Asian Games gold in Hangzhou after helping India win their maiden team silver at the continental bash in October last year. First to attain the number one spot in Badminton World Federation (BWF) doubles ranking. First to win a BWF Super 1000 World Tour title (Indonesia Open). Played a crucial role in India capturing the first-ever Thomas Cup. First men’s doubles World Championships bronze. First badminton doubles duo to be awarded the Khel Ratna - the highest sporting honour in India.
If that isn’t an impressively long list already, the duo has pocketed other BWF Super 500 and 750 tournaments including Thailand Open, India Open, two French Opens, Swiss Open and Korea Open apart from several runners-up finishes.
It’s not without a certain kind of madness athletes are able to achieve such feats. And mavericks Satwik and Chirag have it in abundance. The shuttle smashing rockstars of the synchronised commotion on court have not only taken over the stage but are owning it.
The fiercely competitive Satwik, 23 years old, and Chirag, 26, are here to entertain for many years to come.
How far are they capable of going? Sky is the limit!
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