India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty become Asian Champions at BAC 2023

BAC 2023: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty created history as they won the gold medal in the men's doubles final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Sunday. The duo became the first Indian men's doubles pair to win a gold medal at the Asia Championships and the second-ever to finish on the podium in the history of the tournament. India's previous best performance in men's doubles at the Asia Championships was a bronze-medal finish by Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh in 1971.

IT’S A GOLD 🥹

The wait of 58 years finally comes to an end as our very own Sat-Chi clinch the historic 🥇 medal. 2️⃣nd for 🇮🇳 after 1965, 1️⃣st in MD category 🥳🥳

📸: @badmintonphoto @himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1 #BAC2023#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/3NQbqwy7al

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 30, 2023

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty make a sensational comeback

Rankireddy and Shetty defeated Malaysian players Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-16, 17-21, 19-21 in a nail-biting match to win the historic gold. The 2022 World Championships bronze medallists scripted a sensational comeback after an opening game reversal to edge past the Malaysian pair.

Here's how netizens reacted to this victory

Congratulations to SatChi💐🥇🏸Satwik/Chirag are the Paes/Bhupathi of Badminton for India...🇮🇳🙏🏼 #Indiaonrise #badmintonindia

— Mr. Neelsmit (@Xtreme1ndian) April 30, 2023

These 2 have been at their prime best since last Olympics!!!!

— Abhimanyu Singh Chauhan (@Abhibanna) April 30, 2023

Massive 🔥

— Paresh Patil (@parepatil) April 30, 2023

After dropping game1 then trailing 13-7 in 2nd and 15-11 in the third game came back strong to take the match. Have to say Boe is an excellent coach. His involvement is 100% . What a reaction by him after India won. Congratulations to Chirag and Satwik.

— saisundar (@saisund33013985) April 30, 2023

Incredible duo 🤩💯🇮🇳

— Jayesh (@Jayesh_45) April 30, 2023

Awesome, congrats 👏

— theleapyes (@theleapyes) April 30, 2023

Well done guys 👍 Really played well 🤝 and make all of us proud 🥇

— Chandrakanth (@Iam_Ckanth) April 30, 2023

Rankireddy and Shetty also became the first Indian shuttlers to be crowned champions at the Asia Championships in 58 years. The last Indian player to win a gold medal at the Asia Championships is Dinesh Khanna. He achieved the feat when he beat Thailand's Sangob Rattanusorn in the men's singles final in 1965 at Lucknow.