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Olympians Satwiksairaj Ranikireddy and Chirag Shetty became the recipient of Major Dhyan Chand Khel Award from Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Labour & Employment, Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi on May 1. The prominent badminton allies were shortlisted for the honour in 2024. However, both could not attend the ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan due to their playing commitments.
On the notable occasion, Chirag expressed his joy and revealed that the Government of India extended massive support to him and Satwiksairaj since they paired with each other. “Finally, we received it today. It was long due. It was announced in 2023. So, we are very happy to get the Khel Ratna from our honourable Sports Minister. The support from the Government of India has been tremendous since the time me and Satwik were paired together. All our big wins -- whether becoming the World No. 1, winning Asian Games gold or clinching the Thomas Cup title -- a lot of credit goes to the Indian government for their continuous support," remarked Chirag as quoted by SAI Media.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag have pulled off exceptional success in recent years
The pair attained the number one rank in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings in 2023 and bagged the illustrious gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou in 2023. Currently, the duo is World number 11. In 2023, Satwiksairaj set a Guinness World Record for the fastest badminton smash by a male player, touching a speed of 565 km/h.
With the latest achievement, the pair has broken into record books, joining the distinguished list of shuttlers to become the recipient of Khel Ratna by following in the footsteps of Pullela Gopichand (2001), Saina Nehwal (2010), PV Sindhu (2016), Pramod Bhagat (2021) and Krishna Nagar (2021).
