The Thomas Cup 2024 witnessed an unexpected turn of events for the world-renowned Indian badminton doubles pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, popularly known as Satwik-Chirag. The duo, who had previously held the World No. 1 ranking, experienced a series of setbacks that led to the end of their reign at the Thomas Cup.
Satwik-Chirag fails to make an impact after comeback
Their performance at the Thomas Cup was not up to their usual standards. There were numerous instances when Satwik-Chirag seemed out of sorts, leading to India’s title defence ending. They lost the quarterfinals 3-1 to China, including their defeat at the hands of the current World No. 1s, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang.
Talking about their gameplay in Thomas Cup, Satwik said,” We just kept pushing ourselves even though we were not playing to the best of our abilities. But if you want to beat them, you have to play at a much better level than this. We’ll take a lot of learning from this and come back stronger.”
Just in: Satwik & Chirag lose to WR 1 pair Wang Chang & Liang Wei Keng 15-21, 21-11, 12-21.
Its 3rd consecutive loss for Satchi against the Chinese pair.
India now trail 0-2 in QF tie against China. #ThomasCup2024 pic.twitter.com/ADzE4wcWS9
— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) May 2, 2024
While the Indian duo had their moments, it was visible that the duo was struggling with their rhythm and they were not playing to the best of their abilities.
“We just kept pushing ourselves even though we were not playing to the best of our abilities. But if you want to beat them, you have to play at a much better level than this. We’ll take a lot of learning from this and come back stronger,” said Satwik.
When asked about exiting the tournament without a medal, Satwik said,” When we did that well, we won many tournaments and I think it’s a good tournament for us, not to doubt ourselves, but a little bit lack of confidence. We go back and we have time for the next tournament.”
The Indian duo has two important priorities at the moment with the first being recovering from the Thomas Cup setback mentally and physically while the second being preparing for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. Satwik-Chirag will be entering the 2024 Paris Olympics as one of the favourites in the men’s doubles category and is touted as one of the medal hopefuls for the country.
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