Satwik-Chirag save six game points to stun world champions and enter Malaysian Open final

The inscrutable poker face, with even nostrils not permitted to flare, is the hallmark of the greatest badminton champions. One of the most expressive duos on the circuit, Satwik-Chirag gave away nothing to their Korean opponents – not even a decider – as they hollowed out the World champions in 7 scarcely believable minutes of a comeback from 14-20 down at the Axiata Arena at the end of a 21-18, 22-20 win.

Over the course of 8 icy-cool points, played casually and with not an iota of desperation, without a menacing stare or gnashing teeth or rolled fists or even a sledgehammer smash, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty mentally disintegrated the reigning champions, Korean Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk.

In becoming the first Indians to reach the Malaysia Open finals sneaking up from 14-20 down in second set to winning it 22-20, Satwik-Chirag displayed just how dangerous they are, to all the top pairings eyeing this year’s Olympic title. Their renowned big attack wasn’t even the crux of this danger today.

The Indians are simply going A+ on any Plan A the opposition brings to the court.

When you have such an unbridled, world record smash worthy attacking prowess where you can thrash the living daylights out of opponents as Game A, who would go on to deploy Game B, of relentless flat exchanges at a great clip instead, to outpace Koreans known for their lightening fast reactions? Satwik-Chirag of course.

Placement over power. Speed over strength. Flat fast parallels over leaping steep down shots that had worked so amazingly just yesterday. Taut forearm shuttle control from midcourt punching gaps, over shoulder-full smashing dunks. The Indians flipped their winning style, to play quite a different game.

It wasn’t that Seo-Kang played badly. They were simply flabbergasted that the Indians could play their Korean staple better than them. The realisation literally messed with Seo’s brilliant head, who recovered from an error-prone first set to play really well in the second, until it came to the moment of finishing it off at 20-14. He couldn’t. The Koreans froze over the 6 set point chances they had. At 20-20 they were goners, and what was looking like an even contest felt like a steamroll.

Here’s how it panned out. The shuttles were even faster than Friday, which meant short, snappy exchanges with rallies barely reaching a dozen shots. None of the four players wanted to lift, if they could help it. All four were skilled enough to play for large parts of the 47 minutes just angled patterns and parallels, without sending the bird into orbit. Very early though, the Indians would’ve realised that the left-handed Seo wasn’t getting his timing right on the net and dumping in errors galore. They played awkward lengths to the periphery of his face, and he was netting a fair few of those, unable to deal with the length at the pace Indians were returning.

Earlier in the first set that the Indians pipped 21-18, Satwik-Chirag had stripped the Koreans off the notion that their world-class defense could weather the Indian storm. While Kang stayed intact and found angles, Seo was struggling. Both Indians kept picking points, sending the shuttle low near his body to his forehand side and he found no retort. As his perpendicular racquet defense crumbled, his confidence at the net started evaporating. Uncharacteristic errors bloated into the net as his flat pushes lacked sharpness to clear the tape.

Chirag was in a front court battle with Seo, but he was so confident with his interceptions that Seo paled in comparison. He even made service errors. Kang was holding fort, but both Chirag and Satwik were pristine and speedy in their flat back-and-forths. This was hours of high intensity training of the flat game trumping fast twitch fibres.

Epic showdown as Kang/Seo 🇰🇷 contend against Rankireddy/Shetty 🇮🇳.#BWFWorldTour #MalaysiaOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/AbbsnhEu7J

— BWF (@bwfmedia) January 13, 2024

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Yet, Seo regrouped, grew sharper on the third shot at the net, sent a few flick serves, and found deep pushes to the back for winners to lead 11-6 and right up to 20-14 as the Koreans teased short lifts out of Indians in the second. “I think in the second game, they stepped up quite well. The shuttles like Satwik said were quite fast, although we were lifting it a little shorter, because we were playing the second (set) on the slower side,” Chirag told BWF later. “The smashes were going quite well but eventually when we got to know that we need to lift it a little more deeper, then you’re able to defend it.”

The match was rambling onto a decider at 20-14, when Kang at the net erred once, and then a second time as his pushes went long. 20-16 now. The Indians would’ve merrily played a third, but they seldom give up on making life difficult for rivals. At China Open – their last tournament of 2023 – they were 20-14 down in the third. And casually, crept up to 20-19, before Liang-Wang saved their own hides in front of a bemused Chinese audience. “We came till 19-20 at China Masters, I was remembering that,” Satwik would recall. The Malaysians were treated to something better at the expense of Koreans.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 😍😍

First Indians to enter Malaysia Open final, well done boys! 👏

📸: @badmintonphoto #MalaysiaOpen2024#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/TDJZSbN9WT

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For 20-17, Chirag glided across the net and intercepted the bird, to begin to scare Seo-Kang. A point later, Indians were into a full-blown hustle as they grew monstrous at the net with each charging return sending forth attacking pushes, even as the Koreans shrunk like evening flowers. The wilting was complete at 20-20 when in another crowding flat exchange, Seo lost his nerve and only found the net. For their 7th straight point, Satwik wildly found a line.

And Chirag pounced on everything coming to this side next point with stupendous speed, first a body defense reflex, then a backhand drop from the left front corner before hungrily scurrying for a slashing smash on the right corner. Six set points saved. Eight taken for the win. 14-20 melted in front of disbelieving eyes.

On Sunday, Chinese Liang-Wang lie in wait and Satwik promised a treat. He’s been too busy winning, to decide on what he’s wearing to the Sunday do. “First we’ll go for laundry, the main thing is we don’t have clothes for tomorrow,” he joked. “Then have a good dinner, then sleep. Then hopefully tomorrow we want to play some good badminton to entertain people, just not thinking about the result but yeah to play some good badminton tomorrow.”

It’s never an ominous threat from the Indians. Just a sweet smiling statement of intent to enjoy their game in the final. It tends to not be fun for opponents.

2023 ended with a rare loss in the finals for Indians to Chinese Liang-Wang. 2024 offers up another tournament final, same opponents who are now World No 1. And a deliciously different result.

***

How Satwik-Chirag came from 14-20 to 22-20

“I don’t remember now how we got those points! (Smiles) We were not that confident throughout the game, as in there was no rhytmn here and there. But we stuck to the plan and when it really mattered we stepped up in the last phase. We know they were under pressure, we just played our game and got a few points. It will take a lot of time (to sink in), maybe a year more.”

— Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

“It wasn’t like they gave away easy points or like we were pretty much dominating those. Barring the 19th point maybe it was a very 50/50 scenario where even they had a chance to win the point. But apart from that, those seven points I think we played quite well, kept the shuttle quite low, didn’t really give them an opportunity.”

— Chirag Shetty

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