Bronzed Indians Satwik-Chirag eye golden future

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will always have the World Championship bronze for keepsakes – in a manner of ticking a box in hory-making as India’s first-ever. One suspects though that neither the slice of chronological hory, nor the bronze, will leave them immediately happy in Tokyo. And just as well because Satwik-Chirag were given the best seats in the house to witness an Aaron Chia defensive masterclass, when they were worn down 22-20, 18-21, 16-21 in the semifinals that the Malaysians Chia and Soh Wooi-Yiik won tactically.
Chia’s defense – he has a low centre of gravity and guards the floor like a big fish in a big pond – retrieving almost everything, ended up annoying the Indians who reckoned their attack will get them past the line. He sent everything back. The annoyance exacerbated into being outplayed in latter stages, as their own defense wilted, and they were leaking points, bombarded the Malaysian power-attack.
A 0-5 head to head margin couldn’t be overturned, but more likely magnified the Indians’ shortcomings under the spotlight of the big stage World’s. A gold or silver medal at the World Championships also means you are close to being the best, or thereabouts. The bronze, though a mark of how far Satwik-Chirag have come in their careers – and single-handedly elevated Indian badminton with them too, also circled each area in which they lacked.
Starting with their defense. The conditions afforded them the luxury to slow it down, tug back the gears, and do what they do best – play softer strokes in carefully constructed rallies, while at the same time give themselves a chance to salvage their defense. Instead, post the narrow first set win, they got baited into relying on going slam-bang, and drawn into faster rallies, flatter exchanges, where their own defense was bound to crumble.

🇮🇳@satwiksairaj & @Shettychirag04 end their #BWFWorldChampionships2022 campaign with a horic 🥉 medal. This is the result of their perseverance, determination & sheer passion 🔥🔝
Congratulations boys 🥳👏#BWFWorldChampionships#BWC2022#Tokyo2022#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/fU0CQLD6pe
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 27, 2022
Satwik was peppered on his body and is anyway vulnerable on the 4th or 5th torso charge. Chirag’s nerves just didn’t settle enough to fortify his usually dependable defense, and he ended up turning into a weak link, after the first set scolding of his serve appeared to linger in his mind. All in all, while Chia only grew into a colossus in defense as the match progressed, and later Soh took over at the back to keep shuttle in play, the Indian defense was falling apart.
The key to this Indian pairing’s intimidatory attacking style is using that big weapon in short effective bursts. To very choosily punctuate an otherwise nuanced game of angles and positional strokes. A leaping airborne Satwik smash is grand to watch, unreturnable even. But that hitting can’t be sustained over the entire duration, and needed small incisive doses rather than the aggression becoming a fall-back for everything else going wrong. Chia, as one of the best defense players on the circuit, was anyway going to counter that, so it made little sense to attempt hitting your way out of other troubles. Hitting harder only meant failing harder, expending more energy on no returns.
It was something that Indians had faltered in, at the Commonwealth Games. Repeating the attacking-line hoping it would work this time, was a folly. Winning the opener sent them a confusing signal of what might work. “They were also a bit nervous and when we started we felt it was our day today but we should have controlled things in the second,” Satwik said later.
Though other things in the opening set might well have cornered the Indians into desperation from the second set onwards. Chirag’s serve being faulted clouded his confidence. And Satwik not being as sharp on return of serve, meant every rally opened cagily. Satwik would say as much later: “They are quite experienced in those first four strokes. We could’ve kept more calm, I feel we were a little bit lazy and nervous in those first four strokes. But yes, kudos to them. They played really well and controlled their nerves.”
The muddle in their minds despite taking the opener, was something they seemed to have struggled with. “I feel we could’ve been a bit more calmer. Of course, you can say a lot of things – we could’ve done this and that, but getting that balance is obviously what every top player wants. Sometimes, when you are extremely calm you can get complacent as well, so you need to find a balance,” Shetty said.
“We played 95 per cent, maybe we could have put more pressure on them in the second game, maybe our attitude showed that we were relaxed and they got back their rhythm. We could have grabbed those situations,” Satwik mused.
the time the decider rolled in, the Malaysians were in a good space with compact tactics, and the Indians were fraying. Satwik saw the net chords as rotten luck, which happens. Though at 17-15 when Chirag got a string out a second time and had to hop out and back in changing the racquet, time in which Malaysians gobbled the singly manned court, Indians could be said to be badly unlucky given the juncture. The Indians wanted the bigger medal real bad, and didn’t lack in effort. But finding that balance, like Chirag said between overdoing it and not being proactive enough, eluded them in Tokyo.

1️⃣st medal for 🇮🇳 from MD section2️⃣nd medal from 🇮🇳’s doubles pair1️⃣3️⃣th medal for 🇮🇳 at the #WorldChampionships
Proud of you @satwiksairaj & @Shettychirag04 💯🔥#BWFWorldChampionships2022#BWFWorldChampionships#BWC2022#Tokyo2022#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/4DfmWxjYXI
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 27, 2022
Stunning achievement for doubles newbie India
The only reason why a bronze doesn’t feel marvellous is because the duo are capable of the gold, and they will feel this pain individually, personally and well beyond tomorrow’s many-hued headlines. But in taking India forward in its shuttle journey, Satwik-Chirag will count as absolutely magnificent. India’s never had it this good in men’s doubles, and the duo were central to Thomas Cup triumph, which was unthinkable without them.
More than any medal or Cup and abstracts of national glory (though that drives them), Satwik-Chirag are eminently watchable for the exciting matches they play, constantly pushing the top pairings and always on the brink of tipping over reputations. It means, this pairing will always get TV eyeballs for they never pause trying hard. Their game is versatile, the men themselves are excellent down to earth individuals, and the potential given this setback and how hungry it’ll leave them, is immense.
2024 will always be the big goal, and just as well that it was only a bronze for that will push them to work harder, address their shortcomings, and keep them hungry to prove a point. This loss might leave them hurting, but the medal won should get plenty of young pairings inspired while educating them on just how much more they need to work to get even upto here. Indians aren’t naturally blessed for the speed and intensity of men’s doubles. Satwik-Chirag’s biggest achievement is that they got so good at doubles they never let you realise that it was a tough citadel to crack for Indians.