How Satwik and Chirag can achieve number 1 world ranking in Men’s doubles

The Indian duo jumped up to second in the rankings after a win at the Korea Open, overtaking the Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who they had defeated in the semifinal.

India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pose for a photo with their medals after beating top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Adrianto of Indonesia 17-21, 21-13, 21-14 to clinch the Korea Open Badminton Super 500 crown. | Photo Credit: SAI Media Twitter

India’s top men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy achieved a career-high ranking of second in the latest BWF rankings.

The Indian duo jumped up to second in the rankings after a win at the Korea Open, overtaking the Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who they had defeated in the semifinal.

The Korea Open win handed the duo 9200 points, compared to the 7800 points the Indonesian world number one pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto achieved as runner-ups.

The pair has now accumulated 87211 points across 15 tournament participations. The top seeds have 91629 points across 17 tournaments.

How can Sat-Chi get to number one in the rankings?

The ongoing Japan Open provides the first opportunity for the Indian shuttlers to move to number one in the rankings. The pair must win the tournament and hope that the top-seeded Indonesians are eliminated in the quarterfinal stage.

Both the Indian and the Indonesian pairs got their campaigns underway on Wednesday, with victories in the round of 32.

If the top seeds are eliminated in the round of 16, then the Indians need to achieve at least a runner-up finish.

What are the future tournaments where they can attempt to attain the top ranking?

After the Japan Open, there are multiple BWF tournaments scheduled for the rest of the year. The China Open and the BWF Tour Finals are the two tournaments that are worth the most ranking points.