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India's star badminton doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be recommended for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2023, as per sources.
'Khel Ratna' is the biggest sporting honour in the country and India's world number two-ranked badminton duo has delivered the performances that make them just the right choice for this award. Since 2022, the duo has won five BWF World Tour titles. It started with an Indian Open title win in January 2022 in which they defeated Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-16, 26-24. They followed it with the French Open later that year. In 2023, they won the Swiss Open, Indonesia Open and Korea Open. The Indonesia Open title win was special as they defeated the second-seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh 21-17, 21-18 to claim India's first-ever BWF Super 1000 World Tour title in the final. Chia and Soh were world champions. They were also part of a historic Thomas Cup win for India. The world's top men's team championship held since 1949 saw India capture the trophy for the first time. India defeated Indonesia, the most successful team in tournament history with 14 titles, in the final 3-0. Satwiksairaj and Chirag brought home Commonwealth Games gold in the men's doubles category at Birmingham last year, beating the local pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vardy in two games straight. They were also part of the mixed team competition in which they won silver. Just days after their heroics in Birmingham at CWG, the duo captured a bronze medal at the World Championships in Dubai. They captured a bronze medal at the World Championships in Dubai. They became India's first-ever men's doubles medalist at the event. 'Sat-Chi', as the duo is popularly known, captured the Asian Championships gold, defeating Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the final 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in April this year. They became the first Indian doubles pair to win gold at the event. At Hangzhou during the Asian Games held this year, they defeated South Korea's Choi Sol-Gyu and Kim Won-ho 21-18, 21-16 in a gold medal match, winning the country's first-ever gold in badminton at the continental meet. They were also part of the men's team which won a silver, helping India win its first-ever medal in badminton team events in Asian Games history. Following their flurry of achievements, the star Indian men's doubles duo secured the number one spot in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings in October, becoming the first duo from the country to reach the landmark. (ANI)
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