After playing a big role in Team India’s historic Thomas Cup triumph, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are focussed on winning medals in major international competitions.
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To win gold at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) at Birmingham next month would be an ideal start to this next phase of their journey. The duo had finished as runner-up in the previous CWG edition, at Gold Coast in Australia.
“The CWG is our next target. The CWG is followed by the World Championships. These are the two big events we are focussed on,” Chirag said at the launch event of the Grand Prix Badminton League here.
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On the radar
The World No. 8 pair also has the 2024 Paris Olympics on their radar. “We can definitely aim for a medal at Paris. The Olympics is about two years away, and that is our long-term goal,” Chirag said.
“We want to enter the top five in the world rankings. This is very much achievable. If we consistently defeat the top pairs in the world, we can definitely do it,” Chirag said.
Chirag and Satwiksairaj will benefit from having former world number 1 Mathias Boe in their corner. Boe, an Olympic medalist in men’s doubles, acts as their doubles coach.
Satwiksairaj explained that the Thomas Cup win has raised the profile of the duo.
“It’s great to see people recognise us when we go to malls and others places. People have begun to follow badminton closely after the Thomas Cup. We also went to the Prime Minister’s house. That was a great day,” Satwiksairaj said.