Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair, across all three doubles categories, to be ranked No.1 in the world when they climbed two spots in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Tuesday.
Only three other Indians have had the privilege of being ranked No.1 in the world. Prakash Padukone was the first when he became the top ranked men’s singles shuttler in 1980. India had to wait another 35 years before delivering another world No.1 when Saina Nehwal claimed the top spot in 2015 just after becoming the only Indian women’s singles player to reach the All England Open Badminton Championships final.
Kidambi Srikanth was the third Indian and second male player to be ranked No.1 when a brilliant run of form that saw him reach five Superseries finals — winning four — to become world No.1 in 2018.
But Rankireddy and Shetty are the first Indian pair to become No.1, overtaking Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Chinese Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang to reach the summit.
The pairing has had a fantastic run this year starting by winning the Swiss Open in Basel in March — their first title since clinching the French Open in October 2022. They continued their momentum next month when they became the first Indians in 58 years to win the Badminton Asia Championships. Dinesh Khanna was the first Indian to win the continental tournament way back in 1965 before Rankireddy and Shetty claimed the prestigious trophy in Dubai.
{{/usCountry}}The pairing has had a fantastic run this year starting by winning the Swiss Open in Basel in March — their first title since clinching the French Open in October 2022. They continued their momentum next month when they became the first Indians in 58 years to win the Badminton Asia Championships. Dinesh Khanna was the first Indian to win the continental tournament way back in 1965 before Rankireddy and Shetty claimed the prestigious trophy in Dubai.
{{/usCountry}}After a quiet May, the reigning Commonwealth Games champions were back winning in June when they clinched the Indonesia Open crown to stake claim to another first. Rankireddy and Shetty had become the first Indians to win a Super 1000 tournament – the elitest competition on the BWF World Tour – to also become the first Indians to win at all levels of the World Tour.
Shetty and Rankireddy claimed their fourth title of the year at the Korea Open in July before becoming the first Indian shuttlers to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. In Hangzhou, the duo also helped India men clinch silver in the men’s team event too.
Rankireddy and Shetty are next scheduled to play the Denmark Open Super 750 tourney in Odense from October 17.