The missing Olympic medal may well have provided the strongest glue to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. They would, of course, trade every other achievement – there are several – for the big missing medal. But the pursuit of it has kept them going and growing together.

“There’s a sense of belonging in this partnership, like we owe it to each other,” Chirag says after returning from winning another Tour title – the Super 750 China Masters – in a media interaction facilitated by the Badminton Association of India.

There’s no secret sauce, Satwik says.

“It’s pretty open,” he adds of a 10-year-bond, which wasn’t initially easy, he reminds. There were cultural dissimilarities that the two talented but deeply down-to-earth men from two opposite coasts – western Mumbai and eastern Andhra – would encounter. “But there’s so much to achieve, that we never thought of taking a break or splitting or playing with different partners,” Satwik adds. “The thought never crossed our minds,” he says, of a partnership that has weathered severe criticism for missing the Olympic medal, but is growing a loyal fanbase by the day, because they fight hard, stick together, stay elite, but grow no airs.

“We keep talking about everything even when we disagree,” Satwik says, “We just want to win.”

That’s the underpinning emotion that’s effortfully built because partnerships need that effort. “We are both vocal and discuss things. There may be disagreements. But we have conversations and hear each other’s thoughts,” Chirag says. Success follows. “Because we have always had the same goals,” Satwik adds.

First to get to World No.1, an Asian Games gold at Hangzhou, the duo has achieved many firsts for India, a country that barely took doubles seriously at one stage.

Chirag knows the responsibility: “We owe it to Indian doubles, and Indian badminton.” Both are emotional, sentimental even, in their own way, and speak their minds. But losses or sunken form, injuries or mistakes on court, Satwik-Chirag have used those down-days to resurrect together. Such as China Masters, after a quarterfinal exit at the Delhi World Championships.

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India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a quarterfinal exit at the 2026 badminton World Championships in Delhi.

The losses have backed them into unprecedented corners – working on tiny details, keeping them honest.

“There is always something to work on. Even when we were World No.1, I never thought I was a perfect badminton player,” Chirag explains. There are no massive gaps in their game, but always plenty to keep working on, like defence. They name Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won Ho as the best defensive unit, and Chinese Liang-Wang the most attacking, besides themselves.

Keeping the rhythm

While Satwik got better on the third shot – an earlier vulnerability – the duo has also learnt they can’t head into tournaments cold. Five solid matches – four of them 3-game encounters – were a good test ahead of the Asian Games.

“We need to continue playing. Otherwise after a gap, it gets tough to adjust to speed defensive structure,” Satwik said.

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They don’t feel extra pressure to defend the Asian Games crown. “There are other top pairings who will feel more pressure,” Chirag states. After two days, they’ll work on their shortcomings and fly out in 10 days. Shenzhen has given them good days – in 2024 Satwik was admittedly at “less than 50 percent” and they still made the semis. On another occasion, they had lost in Round 1 at Japan, then made the final at the China Masters next week. “My favourite is India Open, then French, then China Masters in that order,” Satwik says.

Chirag was running a temperature ahead of the last Asiad final, and the only thing they had, he says, was hope before they won gold. This last week was again a physical challenge. “If the body holds up. So it’s one match at a time,” Satwik says.

With a protective belt since February of 2025 and Satwik’s shoulder always in discussion, these are a pair of broken and patched back Terminators who keep delivering on the ‘I’m back’ promise.

“It was good to know that even without our ‘A’ weapons, we can play at the highest level,” said Satwik, who openly admits he wasn’t able to smash at a 100 percent.

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On a typical title run, they run into Malaysians who refuse to lift, Popovs who can’t stop lifting, Danes who are plain annoying, shuffled Malaysians who defend like hell and Chinese who ambush with speed.

“We were patient. Trusted our defence. And sure of which strokes to play when we got lifts,” Chirag explains the dynamic.

“We know we got the gold at the Asian Games three years back. But even now, if we have as much fun as ever, we will be able to go deep. Keep results aside, focus on one match at a time,” Chirag says.

“We don’t have a Plan B,” Satwik stresses. Plan A is knowing they are a rollicking good team – together.