‘Asian Games will be challenging’

World No 2 Indian pair of Satwiksairaj, Chirag geared up for the tough challenge

Hyderabad: Indian doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has been in super form this year winning the Indonesian Open and achieving the World No.2 ranking.

However, the duo feels that ranking doesn’t count for much in a tournament like Asian Games where the competition is tough and every pair wants to win the title.

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Speaking on their target in the continental event, the duo revealed that they want to go out and give their best. “We definitely want to do better than the last time. It is like mini Olympics. The doubles teams are very strong in Asia. We need to perform very well. It is a 50-50 chance. We don’t want to think too much and put pressure on ourselves. We want to go there and enjoy ourselves,” said Satwik.

The 23-year-old Satwik further said that they will give their best in the tournament. “When we play big tournaments, we give more than 100 per cent. We want to take it step by step and see how it goes,” he added.

Chirag, on his part, said, “As a pair we never think a lot about winning a tournament. We want to go out there and enjoy the process. If we put in the hard work, the result will follow.”

On being World No.2, Satwik said, “I don’t look at numbers and think whether we are one or two. It is a good thing to be no.2 and shows us that we are playing well consistently. But it puts me under pressure to work hard in a positive way,” added Satwik.

“I enjoy being the underdog. We don’t really go behind numbers. We prefer winning torments over rankings. If we play anywhere close to our best, we are sure we can go deeper into the tournament,” revealed Chirag.

After winning the Indonesia title, the duo crashed out of the first round of the China Open. But they are not concerned about the recent results. “Every match you play at this level is a learning experience. Men’s doubles is an open field. You have to take one match at a time,” added the 26-year-old Mumbaikar. “The key aspect of success is our communication. Whatever the problem, we speak in front of each other. If we have a bad day, we sit with our coach and figure out the things,” revealed Satwik.

“Team work is extremely important. Coming from different backgrounds and cultures, we had our fair share of difficulties. We then started spending time off the court. We became extremely good friends. That is one of the major things that helped our game on court as well,” revealed Chirag.

Satwik further revealed that his calm and composed nature and Chirag’s aggression work well for them. “I look up to (Roger) Federer and (MS) Dhoni and try to stay cool like them. That helps me all the time. But Chirag is like (Rafael) Nadal or Virat Kohli. He is quite the opposite to me on the court. So we gel well.”