It has been a defining year for the Indian men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Besides being ranked as world number one for a while, they won three BWF titles and gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games. The Khel Ratna award – India’s highest sporting honour – came as a icing on the cake.
But the hungry duo, who represented IOCL in the PSPB Inter-Unit Team Championship, has set higher goals. While the Paris Olympics remains their primary goal, the pair has set its sights on the All England Open in March. A good display in the Super 1000 event could set the tone for the quadrennial event in July-August.
“2023 has been a great year for us, but it is important to keep ourselves fresh and fit. Going into 2024, the Olympics is the biggest target for us. That said, there are other competitions which we have not won yet, like the All England. Hopefully 2024 will be another great year,” said the 26-year-old Chirag.
The Andhra-Mumbai duo, however, are in a commanding position in the Race to Paris rankings. Currently, placed second, they are almost guaranteed a slot, which gives them the opportunity of picking and choosing tournaments they would like to play before the Olympic qualification cycle ends on April 28. This in turn can help them remain fresh in the run-up to the Olympics.
“Our main aim is to give our best in the competitions that we decide to compete in and ensure that we do not play a lot of tournaments. We want to decide on the events accordingly. We do not want to play 3-4 back-to-back tournaments,” pointed out Chirag.