“I learned success from volleyball”: Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the bronze medalists of the 2022 World Championships in Tokyo and the gold medalists of the 2022 Asian Games, are the first Indian men’s doubles pair to be ranked world No. 1 in badminton and will represent India in Paris 2024.

The duo met up with Dinesh Karthik on JioCinema’s ‘Get Set Gold’ where they unlocked the secrets to their game, talked about the initial language barrier they faced in their partnership and their shared love for South Indian music.

Satwiksairaj, who holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest strike, reaching a speed of 565 km/h, gave an insight into the technique behind the strike and what inspired it.

“I learned how to hit volleyball, how players jump and hit. It seems like a heroic move and that’s how I started learning how to jump when I was young. Nobody taught me that and I think success somehow achieved success. I try to have peripheral vision to subconsciously notice where opponents are. Before I played a lot with angles and hit the line, but now I try to hit towards the opponent’s body.”

While Shetty and Rankireddy took Karthik through his training regime, they also discussed the physicality of their opponents and how it surprised them on most occasions. Shetty described the nuances of playing a doubles match and what are the various aspects beyond power that define his game. He then showed Karthik the exercises they do to perfect their defense and develop muscle memory.

“When we talk about doubles, the game is not just a question of strength. The game is much more about defense, the game at the net, about getting support right. Defense is another important part of the game. There are a lot of aspects when you think about duos, and it’s not just about power.”

Shetty also shared how Rankireddy influenced his music playlist with songs from Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan and Shah Rukh Khan films during a game of carrom.

“Before, I listened to a lot of Punjabi music. But just before the Asian Games, Satwik made me listen to Anirudh (Ravichander) songs,” said Shetty. Rankireddy explained the playlist sequence: “To start with, there’s ‘Hukum’, then the title track by Vikram, and we slowly get into dance mode with ‘Chaleya’. Chirag set KGF’s deep score as our theme entering the court.”

Shetty and Rankireddy then discussed the difficult days of their partnership and how they overcame them to become the world’s No. 1-ranked duo.

“Before I felt overwhelmed, it felt like someone was making me play with him on purpose and it was against our will. We didn’t speak the same language, which created many barriers. I used to speak in Hindi, while Satwik was more familiar with Telugu. The then coach, Kim Tan, said that he thought we would form a good duo, as we had a good attack. He felt we could make it to the Top 20. This conversation made us feel less overwhelmed and we felt like partnering willingly, said Shetty.

Rankireddy then shared how their partnership became perfect and how their souls talk between matches.

Shetty and Rankireddy are currently ranked third in the men’s doubles and are serious contenders for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In the last two years, the pair have won a gold medal each at the 2022 Asian Games and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, along with with further accolades at the 2022 World Championship, 2022 Thomas Cup and 2023 Asian Championship.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)