28 June 2023: With multiple wins and a strong show of sportsmanship, the Indian players at the Indonesia Open 2023 have been successful in yet again making India shine brighter than ever!
The Indonesia Open is an annual badminton tournament that is part of the BWF (Badminton World federation) World Tour Super 1000. It is one of the most prestigious badminton events in the world and attracts top players from around the globe.
The tournament has been held since 1982 in Jakarta, Indonesia. It features men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles competitions.
On Sunday, June 18, Atwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty set a milestone by being the first Indian doubles team to win a championship at a Badminton Super 1000 event in Jakarta.
Even though Saina Nehwal (2010, 2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (2017) have previously won The Indonesia Open's singles competitions, Satwiksairaj and Chirag's success at the Indonesia Open is especially noteworthy and exceptional since they are the first Indian doubles team to take home the trophy.
In a thrilling two-game match in Jakarta, the World No. 6 pair, who took home bronze at the World Championships and a gold at the Commonwealth Games last year, overcame Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yika.
The first game began slowly for the Indians and they lacked pace, but they rapidly picked up the momentum and were ahead 11-9 by the half of the match and took control of the action as the second game started. The Malaysian pair got close at the end, but they couldn't handle the pressure and lost. In just 43 minutes, the current World Champions were defeated by the Indians, who are also the Asian Champions.
When the Indian players found their feet in the match in the latter half, the duo was unstoppable! They accelerated the play and led by two points. In the second half of the game, their charging gameplay continued to pay off, and they scored the first game point that put them ahead.
After the match, Satwiksairaj shared about his victory and spoke to the press. He expressed, "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 an amazing week for us. We played amazing badminton today. We didn't have a good head-to-head record against them, so wanted to play one point at a time and it fetched the result for us,"
This success at the Indonesia Open adds to the Indian team's already remarkable résumé, which already includes medals for the Asian Games, the World Championships, the Thomas Cup, and the Commonwealth Games.