Satwiksairaj-Chirag regain number one spot in BWF Rankings following Thailand Open win

New Delhi [India], May 21 (ANI): The star Indian men’s badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have regained their top spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings following their Thailand Open title win last week.

Asian Games gold medallist pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy emerged triumphant in the men’s doubles title at the Thailand Open Super 500 badminton on Sunday. They defeated China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in straight sets to bag another title in their trophy cabinet. Now, they have two Thailand Open titles, having won their first back in 2019.

In the latest updated rankings issued on Tuesday, ‘Sat-Chi’ has climbed up two spots to regain the top rank, with 99,670 points.

The world number three edged past Chen and Yi with a 21-15 21-15 victory and clinched their ninth BWF world tour title. This is their second title of the year after they won the French Open in March.

“Thailand Open has been a special tournament for us as we won our first Super 500 crown here and have won many more tournaments thereafter. We are hoping that this victory will start another winning run for us,” said Satwik after clinching the crown as quoted from BAI.

Speaking about their performance in the final, Satwik said they played their best game against their Chinese opponents.

“We knew that we could not relax even for a single point against our opponents as they fight till the end. But we played our best game of the tournament today and controlled the situation very well,” he added.

The Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who made it to the semifinals of the Thailand Open, have also climbed up to two spots and reached at number 19.

Shuttler Meiraba Luwang Masnam, who had a dream run in the tournament and reached the quarterfinals by beating world number nine HS Prannoy and world number 54 Mads Christensen, also made a climb of 13 spots to reach world number 71.