Star shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Tuesday became the first Indian doubles pair to achieve the world No.1 ranking following their gold medal-winning feat at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Satwik and Chirag, who earned India’s first-ever badminton gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last Sunday, climbed two spots to achieve the numero uno position in the latest BWF World Rankings.

The duo thus joined the elite list of former world No.1s, including legendary Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag had known they had achieved something special even before they entered the court for the final in Hangzhou and 57 minutes later, they had taken another step to being deservedly called the best India pair ever.

Assured of being the World No. 1 in men’s doubles after their semi-final win, the Indians let out a roar – Chirag made his trademark jump onto Satwik and danced around after their win against the Korean pair.

Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Asia Championships gold medallist, had defeated South Korea’s Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho 21-18 21-16 in the final to add another title to their brimming cabinet.

Satwik and Chirag, who had won a world championships bronze last year, claimed their first title of 2023 at Swiss Open in March, before adding a gold at the Asian Championships in Dubai in April.

The duo then became the first Indians to win a BWF Super 1000 tournament when they clinched the Indonesia Open in June. They defeated the 2022 world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the final.

Satwik and Chirag then secured the Korea Open Super 500 title to keep moving up the ranking ladder.

Among other Indians, PV Sindhu climbed two places to take the 13th spot in women’s singles despite missing out on a medal at the Asian Games.

HS Prannoy, who won a men’s singles medal after 41 years in the continental showpiece, slipped a place to world no 8. Lakshya Sen, who won both his matches to play his part in the silver medal-winning effort in the men’s team event, too dropped one spot to world No. 15. Kidambi Srikanth gained a spot to 20th.

Women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly gained one place to grab the 16th position.

PTI