Picture Credit: Twitter
Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Sunday, April 30 confirmed that the BAI President Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the Chief Minister of Assam has announced INR 20 Lakh reward to the Badminton Asia Championships 2023 gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The duo became the first from the country after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the Badminton Asia Championships and the first winners for India in the tournament in 58 years.
The BAI media tweeted on Sunday, April 30 announcing the reward, captioned, “BAI President Dr. @himantabiswa announces Rs. 20 lakhs as reward for this historic win by @Shettychirag04 and @satwiksairaj at #BAC2023 #IndiaontheRise #Badminton”.
The 2022 World Championships bronze medallists came back after an opening game reversal to edge past the Malaysian combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-16, 17-21, 19-21. They faced Tokyo Olympics champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin from Chinese Taipei in the semifinal match. The Indians won a competitive first game 21-18 and won the match after their opponents were forced to retire midway through the match due because of an injury to Wang Chi-lin. The duo has had a great start to the year as they were semifinalists in the Malaysia Open and won the Swiss Open. Earlier to this win, India had won one gold and 17 bronze medals in different categories at the continental Championships since 1962.
