India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty Clinch French Open Badminton Doubles Title in Paris

With this victory, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their seventh BWF World Tour title.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pose with their French Open winners’ trophies.

New Delhi: India’s top men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their second French Open and second BWF World Tour Super 750 title after another dominant victory in Paris. On Sunday they defeated Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan of Taipei 21-11, 21-17 in the final. This is the in-form Satwik-Chirag’s seventh BWF World Tour title and they won it without dropping a single match at the Olympic test event in Paris.

The world No. 1 Indian duo had finished runners-up at the French Open in 2019 before winning the title in 2022. On Sunday, the Asian Games champions outsmarted their opponents in 37 minutes to reclaim the Super 750 tournament title and also win their first title. crown of the season after reaching the top clash for the third time in 2023.

The Indian duo had finished second in this year’s Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750, while last year they also placed second in the China Masters Super 750. Satwik and Chirag were lucky for the third time and their stellar showing this week only confirmed head coach Pullela Gopichand’s claim that the duo will be the favorites to win gold at the Paris Olympics.

Shortly after the victory, the Indians celebrated in their traditional style, with Satwik lifting Chirag onto his lap as he raised his hands to the sky. Satwik also started dancing with his racket. “It all started with Thomas Cup and it became a habit and it has been a long time since we danced. It’s after the fourth finals. We just wanted to go and have fun and let them earn points and the game,” Satwik said.

“We wanted to give 100 percent and enjoy ourselves. Even Mathias (Boe) kept telling us to have fun and we got our rhythm back and the momentum changed. Satwik and Chirag enjoyed a 2-0 head-to-head win against Lee and Yang, but the Taiwanese duo are in the form of their lives after entering the tournament after winning the German Open last week.

“They’ve had some good weeks, they’ve beaten some good opponents and we knew we couldn’t take them lightly. Their ranking may not be high, but they have always been a formidable match. So we are happy that we were able to win that first game and, after an initial nervousness, also the second one,” said Chirag.