How Chirag Shetty & Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became world No. 1 with the help of un-pushy parents and clever coaches | Badminton News

For Chandrashekhar Shetty, his son Chirag had made him absolutely proud, the day he won the Nationals. His friends in Mumbai often told him badminton was no sport to make a great career in, there was only cricket. But a young Chirag absolutely adored badminton, so the father decided he would support that hob, without ever pressuring him on the ambition to be a world-beater. The National title brought contentment to the Shettys. The World No 1 ascent on Tuesday – October 10 official rankings – will be a culmination of international title wins accumulated over the past year. Shetty Sr though elated with both the Asiad gold and the No 1 status, believes his greatest contribution to Chirag’s success was in stepping back at the right time, and allowing his son to take independent decisions while leaving it to the experts, the coaches. And never pressing him for dissections of defeats or pushing when he returned with a loss as a result.
“Everything above the National title is a bonus for me as a parent. He was good for me the day he won Nationals. Chirag and Satwik have been doing well for themselves for 3-4 years now. The Asian Games gold was for India. My son wanted to play doubles badminton so I backed his decision and supported him,” Chandrashekhar Shetty tells this newspaper.

For Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the most challenging phases of his journey were when he was rehabbing his way out of injuries, missing the Asian Mixed Team event even. Biding his time as the bones and tendons healed, he would slip into darkness whenever he was away from the sport. A bout of covid during the pandemic had also dragged him down, as he slowly learnt to cope with resting, when away from the adrenaline of the sport.
It got tough when he was alone in the Hyderabad home, dealing with an injury at the start of the year. His parents Kasi Viswanath and Rangamani would travel from Amalapuram and keep him company to get through those phases. His brother Ramcharan is his bouncing board ahead of tournaments, and is known to cook his comfort food when he first lost and subsequently won the French Open in the course of this journey.
National coach and mentor Pullela Gopichand has often talked about how Kasi Viswanath, himself a state level player and international umpire, ceded the crucial decision-making to Satwik’s coaches, never interfering and trusting him when he told the father that his son ought to play doubles, not singles.
India’s rise to World No 1 in men’s doubles is phenomenal because the country never had a tradition or icons to look up to in this massively competitive discipline. While Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth knew a pioneer in Prakash Padukone and were steered in their rise Gopichand and later Vimal Kumar, Satwik and Chirag were on unscoped territory throughout, with little incentive to take up doubles or guarantees of success a decade ago. Gopichand had his hunch that Satwik had the game for the long haul in doubles, and the conviction to persuade Viswanath that it was the right decision – this at a time when Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth were at the top, and the visible posters.
Through personalised attention in their physical strengthening which is a bedrock of their game at the turn of their 20s, and getting them the right technical expertise, the coach also knew when to step back, and let Mathias Boe, take over. Throughout the past few months when he’s resumed travelling, he keeps his counsel in the mid-set intervals, while Boe does the talking. It was most noticeable during the semis against Aaron-Soh at Asian Games, when two Malaysian coaches were telling the two players two varied things, while in contrast, Boe addressed Satwik and Chirag, avoiding confusion.

While Boe is the brains and backbone behind the duo and they acknowledge the sacrifices he makes staying away from Denmark to accompany them, the Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her left a lasting piece of advice too besides bringing them together. Chandrashekhar Shetty recalls, “Coach Tan told them very early that they need to be friends off-court first before their on-court chemry kicks in, and that has stayed with both,” he says. They worked on the bonding with meals together, and sharing rooms and trading music and food tastes, getting past the early language barriers.
Both have had to bide time while the other recovered from illnesses and injuries, as well as learn skills on court to cover for each other. They rarely mirror or parrot each other, and have retained their individual identities and personality traits, but there’s genuine respect and affection for the other. Success has been steady, with many painful losing streaks and first round exits that bring them social media hate, in between the headline wins. While the Indonesian Open, Asian Championships and Asiad gold have been the marquee wins, it’s in bouncing back from losses at Singapore, Copenhagen and China that they have stuck each other.
While Satwik was shepherded towards doubles early Gopichand, Chirag’s start of the doubles journey saw coach Uday Pawar keep him in the right lane. The Mumbai coach even sent an inimitable and stern message to Shetty after the semifinal win at Hangzhou, when the World No 1 was almost confirmed and they were celebrating entering the gold medal final. “They looked far too happy after the semis, lying down and hugging and I told Chirag the final is yet to be won. So don’t relax, stay focussed and keep the fire,” he recalls.
Pawar would also text Boe urging him to stay on till he made them ‘complete players’, not merely winning the World Championships or Olympics.
He had waited until 4-5 days after they returned from World Championships without a medal, to connect with Shetty. “I messaged him, Call me when free. And he rung up in 30 seconds. We talked about different conditions in Europe,” he says, about honest debriefings that keep the two on their toes.
Till 15, Chirag hadn’t won much in juniors, but what struck Pawar was just how much of a belief he had in himself. He might be all fiery and fire on court, but the boy was calm and courteous off it. “He’s always been a fighter with great self-belief. There’s no hero worship in him, and he’s never in awe of anyone which made him a good player even back then.”
Pawar recalls a junior meet in Panchkula where Shetty had progressed deep in u17 singles, u17 and u19 doubles. A match against Chirag Sen, Lakshya’s brother, saw Shetty tire out, and he would lose the u17 doubles to a UP pairing. “After the Maharashtra state selection, I had asked him ‘are you happy being quarterfinal in singles’ as he was ranked No 8. But playing all those singles matches left him stiff and tired for doubles. After losing in singles quarters, I told Chirag to come to practice courts 45 minutes before the u19 doubles and start their knocking. They went on to beat top seeds and I convinced him he would have to work thrice as much harder to win singles titles. So he shifted.”Most Read
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Shetty wasn’t sure initially of moving to Hyderabad as Coach Tan wanted him and partner, MR Arjun from Kerala, to camp at one centre. Pawar would persuade him to try for six months. The next important decision was swapping partners as Tan felt two tall, strong guys with skills could wind up into something massive and ‘SatChi’ came into being.

The duo overcame a lot of jagged edges and jarring notes to make it work. On the final ascent, Boe has bolstered their defense, made their attack premium, and taught them the endgame sorcery – for there were matches they once lost from 20-17 up.
They barely needed to hit the high gears winning Asiad gold, but the Olympics will see the Indonesians and Chinese strike back. Satwik-Chirag, their parents and coaches never chased the No 1 pinnacle, and have prioritized winning titles always. That hunger to win Championships, not once but many times over, is unsatiated and has defined their career. It sounds swell being No 1, but Olympic and World Champions (multiple) Satwik and Chirag sounds so much better.