I want a room full of medals before retiring: Chirag

Guwahati, Aug 15 (PTI) Star Indian doubles player Chirag Shetty wants to retire with a room full of medals from big tournaments and his ‘mantra’ is to play “best badminton” which would take care of the results.

Chirag and his partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal last year, have been simply sensational this season with their title-winning run extending to the Indonesia Open, Asia Championships, Swiss Open and Korea Open.

“As a pair I would want to win all the tournaments that are there on the circuit. So, hopefully a couple of years down the line when I retire, I want to have a room filled with all the big medals that badminton has to offer,” Chirag told PTI in an interview.

“I’m quite passionate about that, I want all the medals whether it is the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, the world tour finals, there are many tournaments that we still haven’t won and I would want to win everything that badminton has to offer,” he said.

The world number two Indian duo won a maiden bronze medal at the last World Championships and is all set to compete at this edition’s showpiece in Copenhagen, Denmark from August 21.

“We are not looking at the result. We are just out there to play our best badminton and I know for a fact that if we can play anywhere close to our best badminton, then we can beat any pair in the world.

“And even at the World Championships next week, I think that would be our main aim: take one match at a time and see how it goes.

“It doesn’t have to be the best, but even if it’s anywhere close to that, we can win each round and I feel we do stand a chance to play deep into the tournament. Playing at our best or anywhere close to our best is our ultimate aim in each match.”

The 26-year-old from Mumbai feels consistency has been the big change in the last 12 months and the ability to switch positions from back to front on the court as a pair has emerged as a major “weapon” for them.

“I think the front court game has definitely been quite good and I’ve always been good at the net and Satwik has always been good at the back.

“But lately we’ve also been playing a game where Satwik is also at the net a lot of times and I am at the backcourt and that is also a setup which is not usual for both me and Satwik.

“That has definitely taken our opponents by surprise as well because they are always used to me playing at the front end, Satwik at the back. But with the dynamics changing, I think it’s definitely come as a weapon for both of us.

“But as they say, there’s always scope for improvement. It’s always a learning process and we still have a long way to go.”

Chirag and Satwik’s stocks increased dramatically after the Badminton Association of India (BAI) hired 2012 London Olympics silver medallist Mathias Boe to train them ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021.

“Mathias (Boe) coming in has been beneficial. Working with him for the past one year and a half has been good for both me and Satwik. What has been working well for us this year is that we’ve been a lot more consistent,” he said.

“I think since Thomas Cup last year, we’ve become a lot more consistent.

“Earlier, there have been instances where we’ve lost in the very first round like in Thailand and Singapore. But one of the major things that has changed is consistency and belief in ourselves.”

Their on-court performance reflected on their world rankings as Chirag and Satwik zoomed to world number two.

But Chirag said they are not really chasing the number one spot and their focus remains on winning big events.

“At the start of the year, our main aim was to enter the top three in the world which we’ve achieved midway through the year, but my aim has always been to win tournaments, ranking eventually follows,” Chirag said.

“I would be happy being a world champion than becoming a world number one any day, or become an Olympic champion and be a world number 50, it doesn’t matter.

“What matters for me is to win at big events. No doubt world number one feels good, obviously the rank will signify that I am quite consistent on tour and I am one of the best players in the world.

“But for both me and Satwik, I would say winning tournaments is a whole lot more important than being ranked number one in the world.”

Chirag and Sarwik were left heartbroken when they failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Tokyo Olympics despite winning two out of three games.

Chirag said while 2024 Paris Olympics remains the long-term goal, they are currently focussing on short-term targets.

“Yeah, obviously winning an Olympic medal is our ultimate goal and it’s definitely the long-term target, but it’s still a year to go and it’s always in the back of our mind,” he said.

“But both me and Satwik, we usually set short-term targets and I think World Championships and Asian Games would be the next set of tournaments that we want to play good at. That would be our focus for now.”