Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was still in disbelief after he and his partner Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair to win a doubles gold at the Asian Championships on Sunday.

The 2022 World Championships bronze medallists pair broke a 58-year-old drought, becoming the first Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be crowned champions at the continental championships.

Satwik and Chirag edged past the Malaysian combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in a nail-biting final to accomplish a magnificent victory in the continental championship.

“Personally for me, it will take a lot of time to believe that we are the Asian champions,” Satwik said during a news conference. “I still don’t believe we are Thomas Cup champions. It’s our dream to win for India and make the flag fly high. Good boost for us as we go into the Olympic qualification period.” Olympic Games will be held in Paris next year.

Khanna is the only Indian to claim the gold medal, having achieved the feat when he beat Thailand’s Sangob Rattanusorn in the men’s singles final in 1965 in Lucknow.

“I think we didn’t play, the crowd played with us. It was a bad start in the first and half of the second game, but we didn’t give up,” Chirag said.

“We kept our nerves, we know how to play these situations.”