“Our next target is to get into the top five rankings,” says Indian star shuttler Chirag Shetty

Indian badminton has grown tenfold over the years but their biggest achievement was winning the Thomas Cup a few months ago when the male shuttlers from the nation played out of their skins to achieve a feat that has never been achieved. A major role in that triumph was of India’s star doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who have been very prolific on court in the last few years as they have delivered some wonderful performances in various global events.

It was a very eventful year for them as they won the Indian Open Super 500 series title, followed it up with the historic Thomas Cup triumph and then went on to win the Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and also became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to win a medal at the World Championships.

Recently Chirag Shetty shared that the next step for the Indian pairing is to break into the top 5 rankings. The Indian pairing are now eighth in the world but moving up the ladder is really tough because of the extreme competition that they have from some of the pairings.

“Our next target is to get into the top-five in the world ranking. That is tough. We need to consistently play well and also need to play a lot of tournaments. Our aim is also to be injury-free too,” said Chirag in an interaction with TOI.

It is visible how Chirag and Satwik both enjoy each others company and are always helping each other out in times on need during a game. Hence Chirag had a smile while talking about the bond that they both share. He highlights how Satwik is composed and does not lose his plot even when mistakes are happening from his partner. “Satwik is the ice and I’m the fire. One has to be a calming partner and Satwik has donned that role magnificently. He never gets upset and never shows anger even when I make an error. That is what a good partnership is. He is a smiling assassin. Usually, after big victories he dances on the court. He is animated in tight games, but he does it in his own style.”

Lastly sharing his thoughts on the historic Thomas Chirag pointed out how the mentality in Indian badminton has changed over the years. He highlighted how India finished fourth in their group when he featured in the Thomas Cup for the first time. So the fearlessness and the aggressive mentality was something that helped India this time. “That aggression was missing a little in the past, especially in the team event. The first time I played in the Thomas Cup we ended up fourth in the group stage in 2016. But now it is different. There is a lot of bonhomie and team spirit. That is very important as a team. There is a lot of difference attitude wise. We play more fearless badminton because each one of us is extremely aggressive,” Chirag concluded.