Chirag Shetty Reveals Key to Victory: “Just Had to Keep Our Calm”

India’s men’s doubles stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty booked their place in the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi after a hard-fought three-game victory over Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap on Thursday.

The Indian duo overcame a slow-shuttle challenge and a determined Malaysian pair to win 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 in a closely contested encounter.

Speaking after the match, Chirag said the Indian pair had anticipated the Malaysian strategy given the conditions.

“We sort of knew that they will play that kind of game, because the shuttles are quite slow. So they would want to play a game which is a lot more flat.”

Chirag added that the Indians managed to neutralise their opponents’ approach effectively by staying composed.

“In the end I think we were able to neutralise it quite well. We knew what was coming and just had to keep our calm. Eventually it worked really well for us.”

The victory underlined the resilience of the Indian pair, who recovered from losing the opening game to take control of the contest in the second and third games.

With their quarterfinal spot secured, Satwik and Chirag will now look to continue their title challenge on home soil.