Satwiksairaj RANKIREDDY

The duo played their part in helping India win the mixed team gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, while bagging a silver in the men's doubles event.

The same year saw them win their first BWF World Tour title at the Hyderabad Open Super 100. Interestingly, it was the first of a complete set.

The following years saw the duo pick up World Tour titles regularly and win at least one in every category - Super 100 to Super 1000 - becoming the first men’s doubles pair globally to achieve the feat.

For anything Super 500 and up, Satwik-Chirag were the first Indians to win men’s doubles titles in the respective categories of World Tour events.

The Indonesia Open Super 1000 triumph in 2023, beating Malaysian rivals Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik is Satwik-Chirag’s top accomplishment on the BWF World Tour to date alongside a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships. No other Indian men’s doubles pair has managed to win a medal at the World Badminton Championships.

The duo, also known as SatChi, has also excelled while representing India. At the Asian Games 2023, Satwik and Chirag became the first Indian badminton players to win a gold medal at the continental showpiece and shortly after, became the first Indian doubles team to be world No. 1 in the badminton rankings.

SatChi also ended India’s 58-year-long wait for a gold medal at the Asian Badminton Championships in 2023 after winning the men’s doubles crown in Dubai. SatChi also won a gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and was an integral part of the Indian team which won a historic Thomas Cup title in 2022.

Satwik and Chirag have also represented India in two Summer Olympics as a team. At Tokyo 2020, they beat eventual champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei but were eliminated in the group stage. Paris 2024 saw the duo reach the quarter-finals before bowing out.

Satwik, an Arjuna and Khel Ratna awardee, also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest smash recorded by a badminton player. He clocked 565 km/hour under controlled environment in 2023, breaking Malaysian badminton player Tan Boon Heong’s decade-old record.