No adjectives can do justice to this commanding performance in the Super 1000 BEF event by Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Sterling, superb, superlative, fantastic, outstanding, mind-blowing, all such words pale in front of what the two achieved. Even the fact that they won probably the biggest pay cheque of INR 76 lakh – the highest ever won by an Indian player or pair has no status in the way they played throughout the five days in Jakarta.
They bested both the top-seeded pairs from Indonesia and current world champions Aaron Chea and Soon Wooi Yik of Malaysia (seeded 2). The finals win over the Malaysian pair was icing on the cake for the Indians as they had lost to them in all eight meetings before this event. It was sweet revenge for Shetty and Rankireddy. They now go into the world championships in August as hot favourites for the title. This tournament was good for the Indian squad, but let us see how the drama unfolded for the dynamic doubles duo.
The French Popov brothers (Toma Junior and Christo) were the first victims of the Indians. Popovs lost the first and retired hurt due to injury.
Hae Ji Ting and Zhou Hua Ding of China were next. This top Chinese pair was demolished with clinical efficiency by our boys 21-17, 21-15. The Chinese never had a chance as the Indians were always ahead comfortably on points.
Rankireddy was in his elements as he thumped the bird all over the opposite court, drilling holes with the speed and power of his smashes. Their next match was against the top ranked Indonesians – Fajar Alfian and Mohd Ardianto. And this was probably the best outing that Shetty and Rankireddy had. The Indonesians never knew what hit them. In front of a partisan crowd screaming for their blood, Shetty and Rankireddy just brushed aside all such irritants and carved out a superb victory in an almost one sided match 21-13, 21-13. The Indonesians were made to look pedestrian.
Legend of Indian badminton Leroy D’sa was really astonished at the way our boys shaped up. “I am amazed at the way we played. Chirag was brilliant in all matches finally doing what he was meant to do. Brilliantly turning defence into attack, with jabs and counter jabs, taking straight position so that his partner was shielded from the attacks.
“Chirag did this brilliantly right through the event. They also played with a lot of confidence and self-assurance. They never allowed the Indonesians to lead or even come close to them in the scores. I have no doubts in saying that these two are the best doubles player India has produced.”
Though we played a tough three games affair against the Koreans in the Semis, Leroy says that the long match here set them up for a scintillating performance in the finals. Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae came close to upsetting the applecart, but the Indians prevailed after 73 minutes of pulsating badminton 17-21, 21-19, 21-18.
In the final, our boys met their old nemesis from Malaysia in Chia Aaron and Yik Soh Wooi, but there were well prepared and managed to take the attack to the enemy.
“Shetty marshalled the net as never before creating mouth-watering openings for for Rankireddy. The Malaysian pair finally kissed the balletic feat of the Indian combination and lost out in two straight games 17-21, 18-21 in 43 minutes,” said the 7-time national champion Leroy D’sa.
This was domination at its best. The Indians were well prepared and clearly relished this victory.
Mathias Boe the Danish coach, still in Jakarta, said that he was really proud of the way his students played. “I think the big difference today was that they did not panic. Whenever we were down the boys played a patience game and were solid in defence. We did make mistakes but this time not so many this time. We made the Malaysians to really work hard for their points. Whenever in attack we showed no mercy, but kept catching them in the jugular. We kept the domination with us most of the time. Good controlled service also helped.”
“I think the boys did extremely well against the Chinese and the Indonesian pair. Fast and good movements good openings for each other—P think all this helped them a lot. It was important we do well here after disappointment In Singapore and Thailand open and the Sudirman cup.”
If the two continue in the same vein from this tournament onwards we will have a legendry pair in our hands. Good in every way for India.
In fact Shetty and Rankireddy have had an astonishing 13 months on the circuit. I do not think any Indian sports person have won so many titles in a row. Gold medal at the Thomas cup last May was followed with Commonwealth Games gold and Badminton Asia gold and a bronze at world championships. Then they won the French and Swiss Opens and now this Super 1000 title at Jakarta. They are already legends. And if they continue winning titles at top levels of the game, they will be walking to realms of immortality.
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