The newly-crowned Thailand Open men’s doubles champions, R. Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty, said that the feeling of winning their maiden Super 500 title was yet to sink in.
In their first interaction after arrival in the City on Monday, the two shuttlers, who shocked Chinese World champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen in the final, said they had seen the video of them clinching the match-point at least 50 times.
“We must say it is an unbelievable and unforgettable experience.
“We just didn’t know what happened for a few minutes after we snatched the thrilling final till our coach ran on to the court to join in the celebrations,” said the smiling Satwik and Chirag at the Gachibowli indoor stadium.
“We played high quality game right through the tournament, showed lot more maturity, were more composed and adept in analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents,” said Satwik who revealed that being not fully fit, he preferred to play at the net.
“It was like playing at home with so much of crowd support. And obviously we won because we could control things better in crunch situations of the game,” said Satwik, who also revealed that he had stiffness in the shoulder from the quarterfinal stage and it was not a serious problem.
“I must tell we idolised the doubles combinations and we learnt so much watching the. Beating them in such a prestigious event is a truly special feeling,” he said.
“We just took one round at a time and honestly had never thought we would win the title before the Thailand Open began,” said Chirag.
Areas of improvement
On what areas they need to focus ahead of the World championship, Chirag felt they need to shore up the defence.
“I think we are not still 100% there in this department though we are conscious that we have to keep improving in other key areas too,” he said.
“Definitely, we will be more confident in the coming event. It is always a great feeling to enter the next big events, including the Hyderabad Open, backed by such a terrific performance,” he said.
“We are grateful to the support staff for keeping us fit right through the demanding schedule,” he added.
“The next big target it to break into the top five which is not going to be easy but we will not be found wanting in terms of efforts,” they signed off.
