Satwik-Chirag gunning for first title of season at Paris, aiming to break 3-loss streak against Taiwanese opponents | Badminton News

In some ways, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty flew under the radar this week in Paris. Firstly, there were other important storylines developing. Prakash Padukone’s return to coaching at an international event as he sat for PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen (and a welcome set of results for both the star singles shuttlers.) The women’s doubles head-to-head battle between Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto and Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly. The usual Srikanth Kidambi rollercoaster.
Mostly though, we have now come to expect a bare minimum brilliance from Satwik and Chirag, so much so that they are not necessarily headline makers early in the tournament. A tricky opening round match against Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi? Sure, it had intrigue, but the Indians won in straight games despite a second-game wobble. Another Malaysian test in the second round? Dealt with a minimum of fuss. Quarterfinal against an impressive Thai pair? Sluggish start, clutch finish to the opening game, but still eventually closed out in straight games.
And so Saturday was the first major test for the Indian top seeds. Up against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, with a score to settle for the defeat in the India Open final. Now we are talking. Satwik-Chirag, however, produced yet another dominant performance to brush aside the Koreans 21-13, 21-16 in 40 minutes to reach the French Open final for the third time. It is also their third straight World Tour event final of 2024. In the wild world of men’s doubles these days, SatChi have been remarkably consent.
Seo-Kang defeated the Indians in their backyard in January, coming back from a game down in front of packed stands in Delhi. It was a disappointment for Satwik and Chirag but they kept their perspective. “Disappointed we didn’t win, but we are still hungry, we are not satisfied. Sometimes there is a lot of motivation from losing,” Satwik said, putting things in perspective.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty won against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the semifinals at Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2024 at IG Stadium, New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo Praveen Khanna)
They were in no mood to let the Koreans take charge on Saturday in Paris. It was a close start to the match, but from 5-6 down after the early exchanges, Satwik-Chirag put together a superb run of points on either side of the interval. Following a run of six straight points, they zoomed ahead 14-7 and 17-8.
After closing out the opening game, coach Mathias Boe warned his wards that things were going to get tougher. “Get ready to work hard now. The most important thing here is to be the first to five points, one point at a time, most important. When you come in for a kill, partner ready. Super-duper ready,” was the summary of what the Dane said.

And so at 4-4. Satwik sent down a booming smash down the middle and the Indians were the first to 5. The script was similar in the second game till 7-7 and then Satwik-Chirag pulled ahead once again. Boe now had a ‘three things to do’ that he read out from his famous black-red notebook. “First to 15,” his voice trailed off. The domination continued and despite missing out on three match points, they eventually closed out a fine win.
French Open is, some dance, SatChi’s favourite event on the World Tour and they are back in the final after missing out last year. They will have another in-form pair in front of them on Sunday. Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe Huei-Yang Po Hsuan are unseeded, but don’t let their ranking of No 16 fool you. Lee is a former top-10 player with Lee Yang (one half of Olympic Champion pair) and along with his current partner Yang, he stormed to the title at German Open last week.
Carrying on their form from Germany, they have had another memorable week. Lee-Yang have defeated two former world No 1s in Wang Chang-Liang Wei Keng (second seeds) and Muhammad Rian Ardianto-Fajar Alfian (seventh seeds). On Saturday, they packed of former World Champions Yugo Kobayashi-Takuro Hoki (sixth seeds), coming back from 13-19 down in the second game to win in straight games.
The Taipei duo play an all-out attacking game and are in red-hot form. But Satwik-Chirag, looking for their second French Open title, will start as favourites as they do in most matches these days. The Indians do have a recent trend to correct though. Their incredible career record in tournament finals has taken a hit recently, with three straight defeats. They’d love to correct that once more in the city they love to play in.