Satwik-Chirag can’t win you a team title, when other 4 matches hang in balance | Badminton News

It would be slightly silly to say India could have medalled at this week’s Asian Mixed Team championships, had Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy not been separately rested and played all three matches on back-to-back days. The team event demands proficiency over 5 matches – two singles and three doubles.The measured view, and the accurate one if you cared for their careers, would be that neither Satwik-Chirag, nor HS Prannoy needed to travel to Qingdao for a tournament where every other Asian country, powerhouses included, were fielding new faces, and experimenting with combinations, given this year has the Sudirman Cup.
PV Sindhu did the smart thing to not aggravate a niggle she sensed at Guwahati training camp, and opted out. Sadly for the rest, given they don’t have Olympic medals and they aren’t viewed as stars, they get carted around at Team events and pressed into duty, even when it is evidently clear that both Satwik and Chirag need to guard their fitness, and peak only for the majors, not be used as workhorses.
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The duo have won everything save the Olympics. A Thomas Cup and Asiad gold, an Indonesia Open are seriously top tier titles, and in an ideal world they wouldn’t be risked at any events except All England, Sudirman Cup and World Championship this 2025 year.
Every other event ought to be used solely and even selfishly to get their skills up, work with new Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her as he refits their game to crack the code of the Asian pairings to whom they lost under Mathias Boe. The process will take time, and will need to factor in fallow periods when results don’t fetch up.
The same make from 2021-23 of expecting PV Sindhu to win every title every week when her game was clearly not suited for that sort of labour, should not be repeated with Satwik-Chirag who need to stay fresh for the really important events. With the All England three weeks away, the Asian Mixed Team should barely have been a priority.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy during the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2024 badminton championship at the IGI stadium in New Delhi. (Express Photo Praveen Khanna)
Look at the team ls of every other top nation – China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia or Malaysia, and the top men’s doubles names skipped this one. It is not Satwik-Chirag’s burden that India’s next rung in men’s doubles is not stepping up, or inspiring confidence. If Chirag’s back could do with a rest-day he deserves that off, rather than try to drag an off-colour team into semis, with other wins not quite trickling in.Story continues below this ad
Eventually, India lost its three matches against Japan – Dhruv Kapila- Tanisha Crasto, Malvika Bansod and HS Prannoy, and those are the ones to focus on, going forward. For the mixed doubles pair and Prannoy, the third-set strategy and stamina respectively are concerns, and Prannoy frankly needs to focus solely on All England. Against Kenta Nishimoto he showed his game still has the X-factor in strokes and how he controls rhythm. But the endurance will need plenty of work ahead of Birmingham.
While Dhruv-Tanisha aren’t scoring wins, their game is definitely a notch higher than last season. Deciders are where the battle is, but they’re doing well to drag opponents, including the competent Japanese, into the third. Patience is key.
Sathish Kumar Karunakaran stepping up against Korea in singles was good news, and he remains a versatile option in coming years.
No loss is ever comfortable, but for the seriously low-on-depth team, this exit from quarters is hardly a surprise. The year-round circuit simply hasn’t thrown up names with temperaments capable of pulling wins internationally. Malvika found the going tough, but she has always needed confidence and continuity to get going against the big names. Relying on Sindhu would be a folly, given her own indifferent form when playing the top women’s singles of other teams, but India is in serious trouble in singles because the gulf between Sindhu and rest is immense. Anmol Kharb has the temperament, but she’s still a season or two away from a break-out consolidated season. Story continues below this ad
India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty during the the men’s doubles group stage badminton match against France’s Corvee Lucas and Labar Ronan. (Agencies)
Treesa-Gayatri won both their matches, but the All England ought to be their target too.
Hoping for an “easy draw” – and hence making Satwik-Chirag play everyday – in the quarterfinals of an Asian team championship, was always fraught, and never the best approach for a squad wanting to medal. And not that finishing top of group and playing Chinese Taipei or Thailand would’ve made life considerably easier for this undercooked squad, with India’s wobbliest badminton singles in years, had they beaten Korea.
If India’s medalling hinges on hopes of Satwik-Chirag keeping on playing, then maybe the team isn’t exactly a medal contender.
Fans following the team on streams and enthusiastically chattering away on Twitter, would no doubt want them to play and win every tournament, every day of the year. Sadly, that’s not how elite sport works. Story continues below this ad
Sindhu’s perfect years allowed her to win one medal a year – 5 World Championship and 2 Olympics, with no one chewing her brain to win every week. Satwik-Chirag, India’s pioneers, who pulled a Thomas Cup for the country, deserve the same courtesy and respect for their lighter scheduling. If a training block of two months is what they need, without pressure to win, that’s exactly what they should get. There’s plenty others who should be aspiring for the routine everyday duties of winning India 1 precious point in Asian team events. Selectors too need the freedom and fearlessness to push for new names, like every other major nation, does.