Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy - Coachless wonders!

India’s doubles specialist Chirag Shetty (left) interacts with young fans at the Global Badminton Academy, Virar, on Saturday. Pic/Sundari Iyer

Mumbai shuttler Chirag Shetty along with his doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became the first Indian pair to win the Yonex-Sunrise India Open title recently, beating three-time world champions Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan of Indonesia 21-16, 24-22. And to have achieved this feat without a coach makes it even more remarkable. The World No.8 Indian pair have been without a specialist coach since Danish doubles legend Mathias Boe's stint with the Indian team ended after the Tokyo Olympics.

‘It's tough without a coach'

"We have been without a coach since the Olympics. It's tough without a coach and we would want a coach soon. So far, we have been managing our own drills," Shetty told mid-day recently during a visit to his childhood coach Manish Hadkar's Global Badminton Academy in Virar.

Interestingly, BAI had announced contract extensions to its coaching staff till September 2022 keeping in mind this year's Commonwealth Games (July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England) and Asian Games (September 10-25 in Hangzhou, China).

India Open winners Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

It is also learnt that Indonesia's Mulyo Handoyo and Malaysia's Tan Kim were likely to take over as India's singles and doubles coaches, but there has been no development on that front either.

"The Badminton Association of India's [BAI] held discussions with Mathias [Boe] but it didn't work out as they wanted him full-time, but he was available only part-time," added Shetty.

Recalling the India Open final against the World No. 2 Indonesian pair, Shetty said: "Our strategy was to extend the rallies and tire them out and also to suddenly launch counter-attacks. We watched a lot of their videos and accordingly worked on our defensive drills."

Aiming for Top 5 ranking

Malad resident Shetty, 24, revealed that the pair have set a specific target for this year and will need to carefully pick and choose events to avoid exhaustion. "We have decided on a few tournaments since we have some big events [CWG and Asian Games] this year. Besides, we also have the annual events like the All England Championships [March 16-20 in Birmingham] and the World Championships [August 21-28 in Japan]. Our aim is to finish on as many podiums as possible. We will next play the Badminton Asia Team Championship [February 15-20 in Shah Alam, Malaysia]. The All England will be our first big tournament this year. Our aim this year is to be in the Top 5 by year-end. Of course, a medal at the 2024 Olympics is our long-term target," Shetty signed off.