India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the final of the Indonesia Open 2023 by defeating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in Jakarta on Sunday. The Indian pair Satwik-Chirag registered a 21-17, 21-18 win in the men's doubles final that lasted 43 minutes.
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Satwik-Chirag became the first Indian pair to win a BWF 1000 event after their straight-game win over Chia and Yik. They also became the first Indian pair to win the Super-750 French Open title last year. The world No. 6 Indian pair also won gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Only the Olympic medal is missing in Satwik-Chirag's trophy cabinet. Over the past few years, the duo has consistently achieved notable milestones in Indian badminton.
Satwik/Chirag have done it! š„š„
The Indian duo have won their first-ever BWF Super 1000 title after a scintillating performance against š²š¾'s Chia/Soh to take the #IndonesiaOpen2023 title.
"It's SatChi's world, we're just living in it!"
Score: 21-17, 21-18 pic.twitter.com/mRHJ031ASRā The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) June 18, 2023
Satwik-Chirag had made a sluggish start to the match. The world champions extended their lead from 3-0 to 7-3 before the former fought back to level it at 7-7. However, the Malaysians had a two-point advantage at the first-game interval. The Asian champions bounced back again to pick up a lead for the first time in the match and never conceded, ending the first game at 21-17.
The dominance continued in the second game. Satwik-Chirag raced to an 11-7 lead at the interval before standing on match point with a six-point lead. However, the Indian pair, slated to be crowned as new world no.3 on Monday, stumbled in the fag-end to concede four points in a row before they sealed a historic win.
This was also their 14th win in 17 BWF finals implying a staggering 82.35 win percentage. But the most notable stat behind the victory is that it was Satwik-Chirag's first-ever win against the Malaysian pair in nine attempts.
Each of these tournaments offers varying amounts of ranking points and prize money. The Super 1000 level offers the highest points and prize pool, making it the most prestigious level of the BWF World Tour.
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