A year after the euphoria of Thailand Open win, India's premier doubles badminton team of Satwik-Chirag wonders what lies ahead

NEW DELHI: From a career-defining moment a year ago to a pandemic-forced halt that has left them craving to return to the court, the badminton careers of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have witnessed a 180-degree turn that no one saw coming.
This time last year, their cellphones were flooded with congratulatory messages as India celebrated its maiden Super 500 doubles title.
"I am shocked.One year ho gaya kya? (has it been one year)" is how Satwik reacted when Timesofindia.com rang him up.
On August 4, 2019, the Satwik-Chirag pair defeated the then world champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China at the Thailand Open in a hard-fought battle, which went down to the wire and ended in favour of the Indians 21-19, 18-21, 21-18.
They rose up to world No. 8 in the rankings but are currently No. 10, after losing in the first round of Malaysia Masters and Indonesia Masters in January this year.
"We were participating in the Japan Open," Chirag recalled their good run in 2019. "That was the tournament we played decently, because we played the first quarterfinal of the season, then we went on to win the Thailand Open. We were playing some really good badminton exactly a year ago," he said, with a mix of pride and disappointment in his voice.

Chirag is currently at his home in Mumbai and Satwik too is playing the waiting game in the confines of his home in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh. In normal circumstances, both train at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad; and if the Telangana government goes ahead with its latest plans, the academy will open its gates from August 5, paving the way for Satwik and Chirag to unite on court very soon.
While tournaments continue to be prohibited, the Telangana government has decided to open stadiums and playgrounds. This was announced by the state's Sports Minister, V Srinivas Goud, after he met some of the top sportspersons on Saturday.
The academy has been shut for 150 days since the first lockdown was announced in March and it plans to invite only the Olympic hopefuls, including Satwik and Chirag, in the first phase of resumption.
It's welcome news, especially for Chirag, as he hasn't been on court since March because Maharashtra has been among the states most severely hit by COVID-19 and has kept its sports infrastructure shut down.
(Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/AFP via Getty Images)
With a stop-start pattern being the norm in the times of the pandemic, Chirag has stopped planning for the moment.
"Right now, it's better not to plan as such. It will only lead to disappointment because the situation is such that you don't really know how things are going to be in the next week or maybe tomorrow a well. I think it's better to take everyday as it comes and not pressurise yourself," he told Timesofindia.com from Mumbai, where he has been restricted only to road running and some workout on the terrace.
Satwik has been slightly more fortunate in that part, though the East Godavari district his village falls under has been among the most affected parts of Andhra Pradesh.
"Our district is at the top (in number of coronavirus-positive cases) in AP," said Satwik. "But I have been playing on court on some days. I just go and play for one hour. It's a cement court, just a kilometre from my home, where I started playing badminton (as a child). Recently they opened a new court, a synthetic one, but it's shut at the moment. I played for two weeks on it one month back." Satwik told TimesofIndia.com.
WATCHING THAILAND OPEN VIDEOS
The confidence Satwik and Chirag gained from their historic win in Bangkok was seen over the rest of the 2019 season, in which they went on to play the final of French Open and then reached the semifinals of the China Open.
Admission of that could be felt in Satwik's voice, who has been glued to the recordings and highlights on YouTube.
"I was watching our videos during lockdown. Thailand Open (recording) is there from pre-quarterfinals. So I was watching those matches a few weeks back thinking 'it must have been sometime now last year'."
(Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/AFP via Getty Images)
THE CHALLENGE AHEAD
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelled all the tournaments in September to push the planned restart to October 13, with the Denmark Open, but the pair believes that if they can soon resume training together, it will take them close to two months to get back in top shape on court.
On that front, Chirag could be a little behind Satwik, as the latter has had intermittent access to training on court. Chirag admits that will be one part of the challenge ahead.
"I think definitely that will be a challenge," said Chirag. "Once we start practising together, we will need at least a month and a half to get back to full fitness and then we can think of competing," he told TimesofIndia.com.
Satwik agreed, but didn't think achieving the same level of match-fitness will be a problem.
"He (Chirag) is doing individual training, I am doing the same thing as well, doing gym training at home. I bought some things my trainer told me to buy. I am following that and he (Chirag) is doing that as well. We have been playing for almost 10 years, so if we are fit physically, then it will be easy for us once we are back on court together. We won't get any injuries basically," Satwik explained.