Satwik-Chirag script history, India secures medal after 52 years

India's top men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty assured a medal after 52 years in the men's doubles category after they got the better of Indonesia's experienced duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games 21-11, 21-12 in the quarterfinals of ongoing Badminton Asia Championships 2023 in Dubai on Friday. In the process, they have also kept India's medal hopes alive.

Interestingly it took just less than 30 minutes for the duo of Satwik and Chirag to register a  21-11, 21-12 win over the Indonesian duo. Where there are reasons for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, things have gone downhill for PV Sindhu in the ongoing Badminton Asia Championships 2023. The two-time Olympic medallist in a very dramatic fashion went down against second seed An Se Young of Korea in the women’s singles quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Sindhu started the tournament in a dominating fashion with victory by a margin of 21-18, but somehow lost her touch in the next two games and ended up losing by 5-21 9-21 to hand Young a place in the semifinals.

HISTORY SCRIPTED 🥳🥳🥳

➡️ Sat-Chi assured medal for India after 52 years in MD category
➡️ Medal from Indian doubles department after 9 years

Well done boys, proud of you! 🥹🫶@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1 #BAC2023#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/dz5dG4n7Xe

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 28, 2023

Here's how the Netizens racted to this historic win

I really thought today would be a disappointment but Sat-Chi turned the frown upside-down 😁 #BAC2023 💃

— Reply_1988✨ (@SbSwato) April 28, 2023

Well done chaps. As much as I wanted the Daddies to progress, good to see you both performing well. It was painful to watch you both loose a closely fought battle against the Chineese pair at All England ( I line judged your match 😉). Good luck for the rest of the championships

— VK (@V_K_VinayKumar) April 28, 2023

Awesome match

— Mukesh Choudhary (@Mukesh00052) April 28, 2023

Excellent keep fighting hope they change colour of that medal ☺️🤗

— Sankarjayasankar (@jayasankariz) April 28, 2023

Complete Domination 💥🇮🇳🔥

— Ind_Truth (@Ind_truth) April 28, 2023

Chirag and Sai were superb.
PV Sindhu was disappointing.

— Mr. R (@Hindu_Stann) April 28, 2023

Watta match 🔥🔥🔥 congrats boys, Go for GOLD ☝🏽🫶🏼🫶🏼

— Prem (@premtakraw) April 28, 2023

Our most consistent pair ❤️🤞

— Shreya (@Abhiramyheart) April 28, 2023

Not only just Sindhu, but there was heartbreak for H.S. Prannoy too who crashed out of the men’s singles quarterfinals after conceding his match against Japan's  Kanta Tsuneyama. Prannoy was trailing 11-21, 9-13 when he had to retire due to an injury.