Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the World No. 2 men's doubles pair scripted history for India as the duo beat Korea's Wonho Kim and Solgyu Choi 21-18, 21-16 to win the country's first-ever Gold in Badminton in the Asian Games history. India now has 13 medals in the sport in the Asiad - 2 Silver, 10 Bronze and now a maiden Gold medal owing to Chirag-Satwik, who are inching closer to the World No.1 ranking. India's tally in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou has reached 101, with 26 Gold medals.
The match didn't begin on an auspicious note for the Indian duo as the Koreans took an early lead. Chirag-Satwik's aggressive smashes were met by equally quick responses from Kim and Choi as the Koreans had a four-point lead. However, then something came into both Satwik and Chirag as the duo started playing with the Koreans and their emotions.
A smash here, a smash there - Chirag and Satwik had cornered the Koreans. But they were quick to come back and despite having equalised at one point, the Indians were now three points behind at 15-18. However, a late comeback from the duo featuring a crosscourt shot from Satwik and a couple of good rally points saw the Indian duo take five points in a row to take the first set.
The second set was pure dominance. It was a classic 'Sat-Chi' smash-and-kill job in the second set as they didn't let the Koreans have much say. They led from the start and eventually won the game in straight sets.
Chirag-Satwik were coming off a 21-17, 21-12 win against the Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik in the semis.
Having won the Commonwealth Games Gold last year, this is a huge result for the pair who has won three BWF world events and the next target will be the Paris Olympics.
