India's star badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history, becoming no. 1 in men's doubles as per the latest rankings released by the BWF today.
The duo had sealed the spot with a gold medal – India's first-ever badminton gold - at the recently concluded Hangzhou Asian Games, with a straight-game win over South Korea's Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho. It was also India's first medal in men's doubles in 41 years since Leroy D'sa and Pradeep Gandhe won a bronze in the 1982 edition.
Satwik and Chirag have now aggregated 92,411 points from 18 tournaments this year, 2,000 points ahead of second-placed Fajar Alfian and Mohammad Rian Ardianto.
It has been a wonderful year for Satwik and Chirag, who became the first Indians to win the Asian Championships in 58 years in March. Despite early exits in Sudirman Cup, Thailand Open and Singapore Open, they went on to win the Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Open Super 300 this year.
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The star duo also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold, 2022 Thomas Cup title and the 2022 World Championships bronze.
