The show goes on for Satwik-Chirag as Paris Olympics looms

Chirag Shetty wouldn’t have liked what he did with the final shot of the India Open badminton tournament. At the end of a flat, fast and furious rally, he whipped a backhand return into the barrier. As soon as the fault occurred, he crumpled to the floor in disappointment. He lay there for a while before getting up and, along with partner Satwik Rankireddy, sportingly congratulated the winners of the men’s doubles tournament — Min Hyuk Kang & Seung Jae Seo, who had won 15-21 21-11 21-18.

It was a disappointing outcome for the capacity crowd at New Delhi’s KD Jadhav stadium. While the rest of the Indian challenge had ended in the semifinals — following HS Prannoy’s loss to Shi Yuqi in the men’s singles — the final saw the stadium filled to the brim.

Everyone was excited at the prospect of witnessing the Indian pair repeat their title run of the 2022 edition, which, due to COVID restrictions, was played in front of empty stands. They cheered even when the Indians trailed 6-11 in the decider and egged them on during each point as they inched closer to the Koreans.

Although the Indians had their chances in the final game — they had closed the gap to just one point at 15-16 and 18-19 — the Koreans held their nerve. At the end of the final point, there was a pall of disappointment across the stadium.

The Korean pair — who are the reigning world champions — had snapped a three-match losing streak against the Indians, including one in the Malaysia Open semifinals a week before this match.

For over five tournaments in nearly two years, Satwik-Chirag had not lost a final. But the India Open defeat is now their third consecutive loss in finals — the previous two being the China Masters last November and the Malaysia Open. It’s a major dent to their reputation as finals specialists.

Although they would have been hurting after the loss, Chirag and Satwik would acknowledge that their disappointment was naturally relative. Making three consecutive finals at the most elite levels (World Tour 750 and higher) is something unprecedented in Indian badminton. Also, their defeats have come against the very best — World champions Kang & Seo and former World No. 1, Liang Weikeng & Wang Chang from China.

In the earlier stages of the India Open, the Indian duo secured what was likely one of their sweetest victories in recent times — against Denmark’s Kim Astrup & Anders Rasmussen. The 21-7, 21-10 triumph over the 2023 Worlds silver medallist ended a two-match losing streak for the Indians and erased memories of a painful upset in the quarterfinals of the 2023 World Championships.

And now, following the Chinese pair’s loss in the quarterfinals, the World No. 1 crown has been passed to the Indians once again.

Close enough: In the India Open final, the Indians had their chances in the final game — they had closed the gap to just one point at 15-16 and 18-19 — but the Koreans held their nerve. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Knowing Shetty and Rankireddy, it’s a statistic that won’t flatter them too much though. After the match, Rankireddy would reiterate what he had told Sportstar ahead of the start of the season — that while winning feels good, sometimes it’s the losses that hold more significance in the pursuit of a larger goal.

For the Indian pair, that remains the Paris Olympics, coming up in six months. Losses like the one in Delhi and also the previous ones in Kuala Lumpur and Shenzen allow Satwik-Chirag to work on aspects of their game that may have been previously left unresolved.

READ | Satwik-Chirag pair regains World No. 1 ranking

“Sometimes I feel losing is better than winning. We may have lost a few tournaments but (what that means is that) when the situation demands, we can rise to the occasion. There were a lot of moments when we could have changed the result (at the India Open), especially when it was 16-17 in the third game of the final.”

“If we had five per cent more control in our shots, we would have been favourites to win. We played three finals and we lost all of them closely. All of them went to three games. We lost the final game 21-19 in China and then 21-18 (in Delhi). We could have kept calm in those crucial situations. We need to hang in there. I think we need to have the courage to take those decisions in those situations,” Satwik said.

There were also tactical issues to improve upon. “I think we were a little too aggressive in the final. We used our defense well in the quarters and semifinals. But in the final we were focussing more on just attacking. We should have used the court a bit better,” Satwik would say later.

If anything the losses have only whet their appetite for bigger things. “Losing is better because it will give us a lot of motivation. Personally, I am happy we lost in front of a home crowd because it gives a lot of motivation to make them happy seeing us winning a big title.”

“There are some good things in our performance. We aren’t just playing well one week and then resting during the next one. We wanted to hit the podium. We are still hungry. We aren’t satisfied. We are more hungry for the next few days,” he says.

Those hunger pangs will have ample time to become more intense. After the India Open, Satwik & Chirag have opted to take a break from competing.

They skipped the Indonesia Masters and Thailand Masters that took place during the last week of January and the first week of February.

Apart from the Olympics, there are a few big ones. There’s the Asian Team Championships starting February 13, the French Open and All England in March and then the Asian Championships and the Thomas Cup in April.

Make no mistake the two Indians will be pulling out all the stops to make it count at these major competitions. “Mentally we are there. We didn’t give up easily. We have that hunger. Physically we can be much better. We are going to keep our head down and work towards converting this loss into a win in the next tournament,” Shetty would say.

Although they did not get the result they wanted in in New Delhi, the final chapter of Satwik-Chirag’s season is yet to be written.