Reddy & Shetty put up a valiant fight before losing French Open final

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty staged up a spirited fight against the top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia to go down 18-21, 16-21 in the French Open badminton finals on Sunday night. Riding on high expectation after the Indian pair had won Thailand Open in August becoming first Indian team to triumph at the Super 500 level, the duo fought back strongly in the first set but lost out of steam in the second.

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Aimed to create history

The duo, who aimed to create history by becoming the first Indians to win a Super 750 title on the BWF circuit, were outplayed by their opponents who were at their aggressive best. Currently perched at a career-high World No. 11 ranking, this runner-up finish with their series of top-10 wins this week, will help them inch closer to the highly-coveted top-10 spot and a berth at the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Reigning world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, one of the most experienced pairs to play the sport, fell to the Indians’ variety and superb teamwork. After securing their biggest career win against the World No 2 duo, they kept that impressive run going against World No. 8 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and World No. 6 Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe to set up a summit showdown with the World No. 1 pair.

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Winning mentality and never-say-die attitude

It’s their composure under pressure that has been the very reason for their continued success and rapid improvement, something Chirag Shetty himself pointed out. The winning mentality and never-say-die attitude have set them on the path to glory. At the French Open, only Kidambi Srikanth has so far tasted success from among the Indians ever since the tournament was upgraded to a Superseries level in 2007. 

Saina Nehwal was the only other Indian to make it to the final in 2012. Since the new BWF structure came into place and the French Open was given the status of a Super 750 tournament, Nehwal has been the only Indian to reach a final at this level which she did at the Denmark Open last year. And, considering how Rankireddy battled his way back from a shoulder injury earlier in the year and an illness in Denmark last week, they gave it their all to etch their names very close to the record books.

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