The Indian men’s doubles badminton pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have reached the top spot in the latest BWF World Rankings released on Tuesday.
They climbed up two spots in the BWF rankings after a historic Gold Medal in Asian Games badminton men’s doubles event in Hangzhou. They defeated Wonho-Choi Solgyu of the Republic of Korea 21-18, 21-16 in the final to bag the Gold Medal.
Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won their first title of the season at the 2023 Swiss Open in March. They went on to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships Dubai in April as well.
Shetty and Rankireddy won their first BWF World Super 1000 title by clinching the 2023 Indonesia Open in June.
They defeated the 2022 world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the final to become the first men’s doubles team from India to win the event.
The Indian duo followed it up with a victory at the 2023 Korean Open and the Asian Games 2023 as well to surge to the top of the rankings.
The legendary duo of “Sat-Chi” therefore became the first Indian doubles pair in history to take the world No. 1 spot. Others in the list of Indians are Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
