ItsChirag Shetty, a star doubles player for India, aspires to retire with a room full of medals from major competitions. His “mantra” is to play his “best badminton,” and the results will take care of themselves. Chirag and his partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who captured the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, have been outstanding this season, winning titles at the Indonesia Open, Asia Championships, Swiss Open, and Korea Open. Scroll down to read Shuttler Chirag Shetty Opens Up About His Retirement Goals.
Shuttler Chirag Shetty Opens Up About His Retirement Goals
In an interview with PTI, Chirag said, “As a duo, my goal is to triumph in every competition on the circuit. So, when I finally retire in a few years, I aim to have a room filled with every major medal that badminton has to offer. There are many events that we still haven’t won, and I would love to win all that badminton has to offer, he added. “I’m quite passionate about that; I want all the medals whether it is the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, or the world tour finals.”
The second-ranked Indian team is ready to play at this edition’s championship extravaganza beginning on August 21 in Copenhagen, Denmark, after winning their first bronze medal at the most recent World Championships. He said:
“We are not focusing on the outcome. Its simply trying to play our best badminton, and I am confident that if we can get close to playing that, we will be able to defeat any other couple in the world. We should focus on one match at a moment and see how it goes, even in the World Championships the following week. It doesn’t need to be the greatest, but even if it comes close to being the best, we can win every round, and I think we have a chance to play well into the tournament.
Our primary goal in every game is to play at or near our highest level. The Mumbai native, 26, believes that consistency has made a significant improvement over the past year and that their pair’s ability to move positions from back to front on the court has been a key “weapon” for them.
“I believe the front-court game has been fairly fantastic, and Satwik has always been strong in the back while I’ve always been strong at the net. But recently, we’ve also been playing a game where Satwik is frequently at the net and I am in the backcourt, which is also an unusual configuration for both Satwik and me. That has caught our opponents off guard, as they are used to seeing Satwik play at the back and me up front. But as the relationships have changed, I believe it has become a weapon for both of us.”
“But there’s always room for improvement, as they say. We still have a long way to go, and learning never stops. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) engaged 2012 London Olympics silver medalist Mathias Boe to coach Chirag and Satwik in preparation for the Tokyo Games in 2021, which significantly raised their stock prices. Mathias (Boe) joining has been advantageous. For the past year and a half, Satwik and I have benefited from working with him. We’ve been much more consistent this year, and that’s been what’s been working for us, he added.
However, according to Chirag, they are still focused on winning major competitions and are not truly vying for the top slot.
Chirag stated, “My goal has always been to win tournaments, ranking ultimately follows. At the beginning of the year, our major ambition was to join the top three in the world, which we achieved halfway through the year. I would rather be the world champion than the world number one, or the Olympic champion and the world number 50, it makes no difference. Winning major competitions is what is important to me. World number one is an honor because it shows that I am among the greatest players in the world and that I am pretty consistent on the tour.
But for both Satwik and myself, I would argue that winning competitions is far more significant than holding the top spot in the world. Despite winning two out of three games, Chirag and Sarwik were devastated to learn that they did not advance to the Tokyo Olympics’ knockout rounds.”
While the 2024 Paris Olympics remain the long-term objective, according to Chirag, they are now concentrating on short-term objectives.
