With this win, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their seventh BWF World Tour title.
New Delhi: India’s top men’s doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their second French Open and second BWF World Tour Super 750 title after yet another dominating win in Paris. They beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 21-11, 21-17 in the final on Sunday. This is in-form Satwik-Chirag’s seventh BWF World Tour title and they won it without dropping a single game at Paris Olympic test event.
The world No. 1 Indian pair had finished runners-up in the French Open in 2019 before winning the title in 2022. On Sunday, the Asian Games champions outwitted the opposition in 37 minutes to regain the Super 750 tournament title and also win their first crown of the season after reaching the summit clash for the third time in 2023.
The Indian duo had finished second best at Malaysia Super 1000, India Super 750 this year, while signing off as runners-up at China Masters Super 750 as well last year. Satwik and Chirag proved third time lucky and their stellar show this week only reconfirmed chief coach Pullela Gopichand’s assertion that the duo will be the favourites to win Paris Olympics gold.
Soon after the win, the Indians celebrated in their traditional style with Satwik lifting Chirag in his lap as he had his hands eyeing towards the sky. Satwik also broke into a dance with his racquet. “It all started from Thomas Cup and it became a habit and it has been a long time since we danced. It is after fourth finals. We just wanted to go and have fun and let them earn points and the match,” Satwik said.
“We wanted to give our 100 percent and enjoy. Even Mathias (Boe) kept telling us to have fun and we got back our rhythm and the momentum changed.” Satwik and Chirag enjoyed a 2-0 head-to-head record against Lee and Yang but the Taiwanese pair has been in the form of their life, having come into the tournament after winning the German Open last week.
“They had some good weeks, they have beaten some good oppositions, and we knew we can’t take them lightly, their ranking might not be high but they have always been a formidable game. So we are happy that we could take that first game and after initial jittery take the second as well,” Chirag said.