In the end, it's the consistency that matters for top-flight athletes. Defeat is but a minor impediment.
Despite losing three back-to-back finals at major BWF tournaments, India's trailblazing duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have reclaimed the world number one men's doubles crown. After becoming numero uno on October 10, 2023 - an unprecedented feat in Indian badminton - and slipping down, Satwik and Chirag have again ascended the throne in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings, released on January 23, 2024.
The achievement is a just reward for the incredible results that the young pair have been garnering over the past 12 months. Though they did not win any of the previous three finals they contested - at the India Open, Malaysia Open and China Masters - the fact that they made the title rounds of these elite competitions helped them gain the vital ranking points needed to climb the top spot.
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Satwik and Chirag now have 95,861 points and have dethroned China's Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, to whom they had lost in the Malaysia Open and China Masters. The ace Indian pair had an absolutely smashing 2023. They brought laurels for the country by winning a historic gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 in October and became World Number 1 soon after.
Satwik and Chirag also annexed the Badminton Asia Championships, Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Super 300 titles in 2023.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles category, India's torch-bearer HS Prannoy made a one-spot jump after his semi-final exit at the India Open. The 31-year-old from Kerala is now ranked eighth in the world with 76,587 points, going past Thailand’s Kunvalut Vitidsarn.
