Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy created history as they won the Indonesia Open 2023 on Sunday. The Indian duo defeated Malaysian world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to become the first Indian pair to win a Super 1000 event.
No other Indian pair had gone beyond the semi-finals at a Super 1000 event before this.
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 🏆🥇
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Proud of you boys 🫶
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Though the Indians didn't make the strongest of starts, they found their groove to script a 21-17, 21-18 triumph in Jakarta. Chia and Wooi Yik's aggressive style of play kept the Indians on their toes, but Shetty and Rankireddy were up for the challenge.
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This was the first time, in nine meetings, than Shetty-Rankireddy had got the better of their Malaysian rivals.
Speaking after the match a grateful and emotional Rankireddy said, "We had prepared very well for this event. We knew the crowd will be supporting us. They have supported us all week. This has been amazing week for us. We played amazing badminton today. We didn't have good head-to-head record against them, so wanted to play one point at a time and it fetched the result for us."
Shetty and Rankireddy also became the first Indian men's duo to win the Indonesia Open. Saina Nehwal (2010, 2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (2017) are the only Indians to have previously won a title in Jakarta.
It was the sixth overall BWF title for the Indian pair, who also won the Badminton Asia Championships earlier in the year.
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