Picture Credit: X
Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi of China on Sunday, May 19 to clinch the Thailand Open men’s doubles title. The India top-ranked pair beat their Chinese counterpart, the world number 29 ranked pair by 21-15, 21-15 margin to receive a major boost ahead of the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
With this win, the World No. 3 ranked pair secured their second title of the season after their triumph at the French Open Super 750 tournament in March. Moreover, the Sat-Chi pair had entered the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament without dropping a game and thus clinched the title.
Satwik- Chirag pair made a quick start by opening with a 5-1 lead, but the Chinese pair clawed back with a four-point burst. The Chinese pair won a 39-shot rally and got ahead 10-7 before the Indians got back and levelled 10-10 and did not look back from here as they went onto to clinch the set 21-15. The Indian pair made a solid 8-3 start after the change and continued their domination to get the second set and win the title.
“Bangkok has always been special for us, we won our first Super Series title back in 2019 here and also the Thomas Cup, so it has been a special place and so happy to be here,” Chirag said after the win. “After 2019, we went on to win many tournaments and, hopefully, it will give more boost to us in the upcoming important tournaments. They keep on playing fast and we knew we couldn’t relax. Overall, I think it’s the best match we played throughout the tournament. We kept everything calm and under control. So really happy that we played well,” he added.
