The World No.1 badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty created history by defeating Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 21-11, 21-17 to win the BWF French Open final on Sunday. The victory also marked Satwik and Chirag's second French Open title.
From the start, the Indian pair of Chirag and Satwiksairaj dominated Chinese Taipei's Lee-Yang. In the first set, Chirag-Satwiksairaj clinched a 21-11 win over their opponents to take an early advantage.
However, Lee-Yang gave a good fight in the second set against the Indian pair. But Chirag-Satwiksairaj were strong enough to hold the pressure and beat their opponents 21-17 in the second set to win the final match.
Earlier in the semi-final round, Rankireddy and Chirag beat the current world champions Kang Minhyuk and Seo Seungjae of South Korea 21-13, 21-16 in two straight games to reach their third French Open final.
The Indian duo will also be participating in the upcoming edition of the Paris Olympics 2024, which will be played in the same venue as the French Open 2024.
“It feels really sweet. Paris has always been special for us and we have always played good badminton here and it has been a second home for us. It is a test venue for the Olympics but that is still some months away. I would be lying if I said that I am not enjoying that (winning at the Olympic venue) but we won this final. There is another tournament next week, so looking forward to that,” Chirag stated on their participation.
(With inputs from ANI)
