Indian badminton Stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty extended their remarkable streak by seizing the Men’s doubles title at the Korea Open 2024 by defeating two-time world championship bronze medalist Muhamad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian in the final clash in Yeosu, Korea on Sunday.
The world No.3 Indian duo recovered their way to an intense 17-21 21-13 21-14 victory over the top-ranked Indonesian Alfian and Aldianto in an exhilarating 500th badminton tournament clash in Korea.
Clinching their fourth title of the year, Satwik and Chirag have now secured their 10th consecutive victory, followed by the Swiss Open, Badminton Asia Championship, and Indonesia Open.
The 2022 Commonwealth champions, Reddy and Shetty, had faced Alfian- Ardianto duo in four encounters, resulting in a 2-2 head-to-head record. Notably, the Indian pair had won the last two matches against them.
First Game:
The Indonesians looked quite dominant in the first set but the Satwik-Chirag duo managed to come back by reducing their 10-19 deficit by a six-point before falling short.
Nevertheless, the Indian stars found momentum in the second game and commanded further proceedings in the game.
The Indonesians used a flat rally strategy at a high pace by putting the Indian duo in a deficit of 4-2 in the beginning, Satwik-Chirag were restricted by them as they were unable to leash their offense.
Mistakes also occurred as the Indian side was seven-point down to their opponents at the break.
They won a few points earlier but the Indonesian side dominated 16-7 after Muhamed smashed one down in the centre.
Another smash from Muhamed took their side to a 19-11. Indians scored the next three points when they played an intense and exciting exchange of shots.
Sarwik played a thriving smash which cut the lead to three points but he hit the next one wide which handed four-game points to the Indonesians.
Chirag’s smart play saved one point but Satvik’s error took the cock into the nets.
Second Game:
Starting the play of the second play, both sides started on an equal level which had some exciting rallies. however, the Indian side stood strong taking control of the game with their impeccable skills and speed.
The star Indian duo opened up the game with a 6-4 lead after Chirag’s interception which maintained the lead to 10-8 further.
Indians had a three-point lead at the break when the other side hit the cock wide.
Chirag’s excellent side court took the Indian side to a dominant lead of 17-11. Soon the Indians gained a nine-point lead, followed by Chirag’s smash in the middle which led the game to a decider.
Third Game:
The Indians looked confident in the third game, where they had a lead of 9-6 which later led the game to the interval with 11-8.
The duo also dominated the clash of flat exchanges as the score was already 18-12 for the Indians. Although Alfian’s mistake gave the Indians seven match points.
The Indian stars missed a match point before converting the next one and broke into a Gangnam-style celebration to celebrate their well-deserved victory.
Titles won by Satwik-Chirag duo:
Since the Start duo has paired up both won multiple titles,
Commonwealth Games gold.
World Championship bronze and wins in Super 300(Syed Modi and India Open),
Super 500(Thailand and Indian Open),
Super 750(French Open),
Indonesia Open Super 1000.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) tour is mainly separated into levels, which are World Tour Finals, Six Super 750, Four Super 1000, seven Super 500, and Super 300.
Another Super 100 level is a category that also offers ranking points to the participants.
