New Delhi, Sept 3: It feels like redemption, says Chirag Shetty, one half of the celebrated SatChi combo that ensured that India did not go medal-less at the just-concluded World Badminton Championship in Paris, the city where the two endured the biggest heartbreak of their career.
Chirag and his longtime partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won the men’s doubles bronze last week. The world No. 9 pair notched up a commanding win over Malaysia’s two-time Olympic medallists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarterfinals to secure what was their second World Championships medal.
However, their bid to become the first Indian men’s doubles pair to reach the final ended with a defeat to China’s 11th seeds Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the semifinals.
“I think that win against Aaron is definitely very special. More than winning the medal, just knowing for a fact that if we play the right game tactically, we can beat anyone. We’ve not had a very handsome record against them lately, especially at both the Olympics,” Chirag told PTI.
“So winning that match in two straight games definitely gave us a huge boost and also was a sort of redemption for last year’s Olympic Games, where we played in the exact same arena and on the same court. So yeah, it feels really special.”
A year ago, Satwik and Chirag had endured the pain of missing out on a medal at the Olympics after their campaign was cut short by the Malaysian duo