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In a big moment of pride for India, the men's Doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated reigning world champions and no. 2 ranked Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 24-22, 15-21, 21-14 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals and assure themselves of atleast a bronze in the competition.
This is the first time that the men's pair have secured a medal in the doubles category, and just the second doubles medal for India in the prestigious competition.
The duo came into the tournament after clinching the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham earlier in August, and have now carried their momentum into the World Championship.
The first game was a nail-biter as both India and Japan did not allow each other to dominate. Eventually, Chirag and Satwiksairaj held their nerve to help India take the first game.
However, the pair were subpar in the second game. With the scorecard reading 11-9, India were still in the game, but the Japanese duo kept their composure to make it 1-1 at the end of the second game.
India went for all that they could in the third game and hardly allowed their opponents any breathing space. Once, they took a 4-1 lead, there was no stopping them. With the win, India also assured themselves of a medal in the World Championships.
Tokyo was unlucky for Satwiksairaj and Chirag before the BWF Worlds, as the young Indian pair suffered the disappointment of getting knocked out in the group stage of men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics last year despite winning two of their three matches. They defeated eventual Gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Taiwan in the group stage but it was not enough for them to progress out of what was labelled as the Group of Death.
They have been in excellent form in 202, having begun the season by winning the India Open. The young pair reached the quarter-final of the All England Open and have consistently been in the final stages of tournaments on the tour. Satwik and Chirag were instrumental in helping India win the historic Thomas Cup Gold medal in July 2022 as they were brilliant in the doubles matches for the team.
