01 November,2022 07:47 AM IST | Mumbai | Sundari Iyer
Chirag Shetty (left) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy celebrate their French Open win in Paris on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images
Thirty-nine years ago Vikram Singh Bisht and his partner Partho Ganguli were the last Indian pair to win the French Open badminton title, then known as the French International. It's no wonder then that Bisht, now 62, sounded excited when mid-day contacted him for a reaction a day after India's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy clinched the French Open doubles title on Sunday.
The World No.8 pair of Chirah-Satwik defeated Chinese Taipei's Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han 21-13, 21-19 to clinch their maiden Super 750 title, and immediately broke into celebration. While Satwik did an impromptu dance, Chirag ran across the court shirtless. The French Open is the Indian pair's third world tour title, after the 2019 Thailand Open Super 500 and the India Open Super 500 this year.
"Partho and myself are very happy that after such a long time an Indian pair has won the French Open doubles title. It has made us very proud. I spoke to Partho and, like me, even he feels that these two boys have a bright future. They have put in a lot of hard work and it shows," Bisht, who runs the MV Bisht Badminton Academy in New Delhi and the Love All Play Arena in Noida, told mid-day on Monday.
Vikram Singh Bisht (right) and Partho Ganguli in action during an event in India in the 1980s. They are watched by badminton icon Prakash Padukone (extreme left). Pic/MID-DAY ARCHIVES
Bisht was glued to his TV set throughout the final. "Before the start of the final, I had given the Indian pair a 60 per cent chance of winning the title. The second game was very close, but Chirag and Satwik managed to keep their cool and win it in style," added Bisht, going on to recall their famous win back in March 1983, when they rallied to beat the German pair of Stefan Frey and Thomas Kunstler 10-15, 15-9, 15-8.
"This [Chirag-Satwik] win has made me nostalgic. Actually, we cannot compare our times with these boys. We did not even have proper, international-quality shuttlecocks to practise with and used to play with Indian-made ones [shuttlecocks]. I remember the badminton association did not have the money to send us [abroad] and I had gone to play at my own expense. Partho and myself travelled for the All England Championships, the German and French International tournaments. It was a lot tougher in those days," said Bisht, adding that the Indian pair are fortunate to have Danish great Mathias Boe as their coach because back then a specialist doubles coach for Indian shuttlers wasn't even thought of.
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"There is no doubt that Chirag and Satwik are hardworking boys, but the best part is that they have a good doubles coach in Mathias [Boe]. I'm sure they can scale great heights. I hope to see them win the All England title besides a medal at the Olympics and possibly a gold medal at the World Championships too. If they are consistent, I'm sure the World No.1 ranking will follow," he signed off.
