Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India created badminton history today (October 7) by winning the nation's first-ever gold medal at the Asian Games. In an electrifying final match, the dynamic team defeated the tough Korean combo with a score of 21-18, 21-16 to claim victory.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India won the badminton men's doubles gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 on Saturday in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China, making history in the process.
India won its first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games when the world's No. 3 pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy defeated Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho of the Republic of Korea 21-18, 21-16 in the final.Chirag-Satwik had already won the Swiss Open, Asia Championships, Indonesia Open, and Korea Open. This was his fifth championship of the year.
Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho continued where they left off in their last match, defeating Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, the reigning Olympic champions for Tokyo 2020. The 15th-ranked Koreans controlled the opening stages and held the lead for the majority of the first game.
#AsianGames | India's #SatwikSairajRankireddy and #ChiragChandrashekharShetty defeat South Korea's Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho to win #Gold in Men’s Doubles Badminton.
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) October 7, 2023
This is India's first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games.
? Reuters#AsianGames23
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Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho appeared to be winning the first game with the score 18-15 in their favor, but Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy produced a remarkable comeback and scored six consecutive points to grab the lead.
In the second game, the two sides traded blows head-to-head early on, with the Indian team leading by just one point at the half. The game was convincingly won by Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in 57 minutes after the resumption, though, when they started to break away.
In as many games versus the South Korean duo, India has won three consecutive.
To guarantee their spot in the championship match, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy eliminated Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, the bronze medalists from the Tokyo Olympics. Earlier, the Singaporean team of Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo were defeated by the Indian team, who went on to win a medal from Hangzhou.
India won three medals to cap up their badminton run in Hangzhou 2023. The Indian men's team that won silver last week included Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy as well. Men's singles bronze medalist HS Prannoy.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, lost in the quarterfinals, ending India's singles campaign. The 28-year-old PV Sindhu won a silver medal in the women's singles competition at the 2018 Jakarta Games, which was India's best result in badminton at an Asian Games before Hangzhou.
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