India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated the Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 to win the Thailand Open title in the men’s doubles event on Sunday.
The top seeds were challenged by the unseeded Chinese duo in the first half of the first game, however, Chirag’s successful review gave the Indians a 12-11 lead after trailing 10-11 at the mid-game interval. Following that, the Asian Games gold medallist never looked back and stormed forward to a 21-15 lead in the first game.
The second game saw the Sat-Chi duo predominantly in control, maintaining a five-point advantage at the mid-game interval. However, with Chirag unable to find his balance and the pair committing a slew of errors, the Chinese saw a glimmer of hope, closing the gap to 15-14.
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Satwik then unleashed a barrage of smashes to grab five match points. The Chinese then sent Chirag’s smash into the net to conclude the match in 46 minutes. As part of celebrations, Satwik broke into a dance with his racquet, while Chirag threw his shirt into the crowd.
Satwik and Chirag won their maiden Super 500 crown in Thailand in 2019. This year, they finished runner-up at the Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 before claiming the French Super 750 in March.
For Satwik and Chirag, the title comes at a major juncture of their career as they had some low returns in the last couple of tournaments.
The Indian pair lost in the second round at All England Championships and then missed the Asia Championships due to an injury to Satwik.
The Thomas Cup campaign was also not too fruitful as they lost a couple of narrow matches to top pairs.
“Thailand Open has been a special tournament for us as we won our first Super 500 crown here and have won many more tournaments thereafter. We are hoping that this victory will start another winning run for us,” said Satwik after clinching the crown.
Speaking about their performance in the final, Satwik said they played their best game against their Chinese opponents. “We knew that we cannot relax even for a single point against our opponents as they fight till the end. But we played our best game of the tournament today and controlled the situation very well,” he added.
The victory also helped the Indian combination earn 9200 ranking points and prize purse of $33180.
With inputs from PTI