By Sahil Kohli

New Delhi [India], January 13 (ANI): The 2022 India Open champions, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, reflected on dealing with high expectations attached to them since their careers picked up momentum in the early 2020s, with plenty of record-breaking titles and medals and on reuniting with coach Tan Kim Her, who made the 'Sat-Chi' a thing when they were teenagers.

'Sat-Chi', the world number three pair, spoke to ANI ahead of the 2026 edition of the India Open at Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi, starting from Tuesday, which also happens to be a test event of sorts for the BWF World Championships, to be hosted by the same venue later this year.

In their previous Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour event, the Malaysia Open earlier this month, Satwik-Chirag faced a quarterfinal exit. Having won the BWF World Championship bronze medal, their second at the marquee event, Satwik-Chirag are long overdue for a BWF World Tour title, having last won the Thailand Open title back in May 2024. Hyped as one of the strongest contenders for a medal at the Paris Olympics 2024, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Some of their notable showings since the Paris Olympics include the BWF World Championship bronze and silver medals at the Hong Kong Open and China Masters last year. The popular men's duo has lost some of the consistency that took them to the world number spot earlier. The India Open 2022 win in January had opened a long period of consistent glory and record-breaking for 'Sat-Chi' as they went on to win seven BWF World Tour titles till May 2024 and achieved several Asian/world level milestones and records besides that, including the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Asian Championships crowns.

Speaking to ANI about the weight of these expectations, Satwiksairaj said that the duo does not think a lot about the expectations attached to them, all the outside noise surrounding their performances since the competition in badminton has become so competitive that playing top 25-30 ranked players is a troublesome task on a given day, way much stressful than earlier days when only top 10 players used to dominate the majority of competition.

'For me and for others, actually, we do not think so much about those things. Because competition has become way, way, way competitive in the last few years. A lot of players are coming. A lot of youngsters are picking up. A lot of players are playing really good in the high level. Before, the top 10 players were very difficult to play,' he said.

'But now, if you see the top 25 players or the top 30 players can trouble anyone on a given day. So, it is way, way competitive. You have so many tournaments back-to-back, and it is very important to be healthy. You are not always 100 per cent on the court. You have to play with 70 per cent also,' he added.

Satwik admitted that last year, the duo were not 100 per cent all the time and played through small niggles.

'We were not 100 per cent all the time. But when we were 100 per cent, we played really well. We won a bronze medal in the World Championship and a silver in China and Hong Kong. It's a special second half in 2025, and hopefully we will start well in 2026,' he added.

Satwiksairaj is looking forward to having two events to play in front of the home crowd this year, the India Open and the World Championships later this year.

'Really excited to be here in Delhi and in the Open, and it is always special playing in front of a home crowd. I always love playing in front of a home crowd, and last year it was full-packed. I was eagerly waiting for the chance to play in front of a home crowd again. And this year we are getting two times to play in front of a home crowd, and it is this Super 750 event and the world championship. It is going to be huge and really exciting for this year,' he added.

He urged all the youngsters and aspiring shuttlers to come and watch them play since watching big players play live forms a big part of someone's learning as a shuttler for the future.

The duo is also delighted to have reunited with Tan Kim Her, the Malaysian doubles specialist who paired these two up back in 2016 in their teenage years and were ranked between world number 400-500. When the coach left in 2019, they were among the world's top 15 men's doubles pairs. Now, as Tan returns for his second stint after Mathias Boe announced his retirement from coaching after Satwik-Chirag's Paris Olympics quarters exit, they were amongst the world's top three, having captured many titles and medals.

'Working with Tan Kim Her is always good. He paired us when we were teenagers back in 2016 and ranked 400-500. By the time he left, we were in the top 15. By the time he came back, we had already won medals, become world number one, and ended the last year at number three. It has been a pleasure working with him, and we look forward to winning more titles with him,' said Chirag to ANI.

Chirag recalled watching the World Championship back in 2009, when India first hosted it as a kid and said that he would like an upgrade in the medal's colour, with both of their medals being bronze so far.

'I think 2009 was the first time India hosted a World Championship. It has been 17 years later now that the World Championships are coming back to India. I remember watching it as a teenager on TV. Now I get to play in it. I am really looking forward to the World Championships. I hope we can add a better-coloured medal to our tally of two medals,' he concluded. (ANI)