The Indian badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty upstaged Indonesia’s world No.1 pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the final of men’s doubles Korea Open final at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu, South Korea on July 23. The Indian pair won 17-21 21-13 21-14 in 62 minutes to claim the BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
Former world champion PV Sindhu is the only other Indian to clinch the Korea Open title, clinching the title in 2017.
The win on Sunday was the fourth title for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in 2023, three on the BWF World Tour besides the Asia Championships crown in April this year in Dubai. The shuttlers won the Swiss Open in March. Their win at last month’s Indonesia Open made them the first Indian pair to claim a Super 1000 event, the highest level competition on the tour.
After the win on Sunday, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champions could move up from their current world No.3 ranking after logging 9200 ranking points for the win. The triumph revealed their amazing consistency and fighting spirit when down, it should only boost gold medal hopes at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September-October.
