Asian Games 2023: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty become world No. 1

Asian Games 2023: Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Asia Championships gold medallist, had defeated South Korea's Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho

Asian Games 2023: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty become world No. 1

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (left), Chirag Shetty (second from left) along with another Asian Games medallist, greet PM Narendra Modi at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi yesterday. Pics/PTI

Star pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Tuesday became the first Indian doubles pair to achieve the coveted world number one ranking following their gold medal-winning feat at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.

Satwik and Chirag, who earned India's first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou last Sunday, climbed two spots to achieve the numero uno position in the latest BWF World Rankings.

India’s Chirag Shetty celebrates after winning gold along with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in men’s doubles in Hangzhou. Pic/PTI

The duo thus joined the elite list of former world number one, including legendary Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.

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Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Asia Championships gold medallist, had defeated South Korea's Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho 21-18 21-16 in the final on Sunday to add another title to their brimming cabinet.

Satwik and Chirag, who had won a world championships bronze last year, claimed their first title of 2023 at the Swiss Open in March, before adding a gold at the Asian Championships in Dubai in April.

Duo join elite list

The duo then became the first Indians to win a BWF Super 1000 tournament when it clinched the Indonesia Open in June. Satwik-CHirag then secured the Korea Open Super 500 title to keep moving up the ranking ladder.

Javelin star Neeraj Chopra (centre) is all smiles at the felicitation function for Asian Games medal winners

Sindhu ranked 13th

Among other Indians, PV Sindhu climbed two places to take the 13th spot in women's singles despite missing out on a medal at the Asian Games, while HS Prannoy, who won a men's singles medal after 41 years in the continental showpiece, slipped a place to world no 8.

Lakshya Sen, who won both his matches to play his part in the silver medal-winning effort in the men's team event, too dropped one spot to world number 15. Kidambi Srikanth gained a spot to 20th.
The women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly gained one place to grab the 16th position.

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