India’s challenge in the men’s doubles at the Indonesia Open suffered a setback on Wednesday as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were forced to retire from their opening-round match due to Satwik’s shoulder injury.
As sporting attention remained elsewhere, Sat-Chi delivered another landmark moment for Indian badminton. The Indian men's doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ended a two-year title drought with a thrilling Singapore Open Super 750 triumph.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into their first final of the 2026 season after defeating Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in a thrilling semifinal at the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament in Bangkok on Saturday.
India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semifinals of the Thailand Open with a commanding straight-game win in Bangkok on Friday
India, who had won the Thomas Cup title in 2022, finished with a bronze medal in the 2026 edition of the tournament.
They lost to the world No. 1 Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 21-9, 18-21, 17-21 in the double's final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
Five badminton players have been conferred the Khel Ratna so far; Pullela Gopichand (2001), Saina Nehwal (2010), PV Sindhu (2016), Pramod Bhagat (2021) and Krishna Nagar (2021).
The Asian Games champions outpaced world No. 15 Ting, 18th ranked Yu 21-15, 22-20 in the semi-finals of the BWF Super 750 event.
Popularly known as “Sat-Chi”, Satwik and Chirag climbed two spots in the BWF rankings after a historic gold medal in the recently concluded Asian Games badminton men’s doubles event in Hangzhou.
They become the first Indian pair to win Super 1000 title
