
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty begin their BWF World Championships campaign at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Monday with a first round bye. The world No. 5 pair won…
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty begin their BWF World Championships campaign at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Monday with a first round bye. The world No. 5 pair won the Singapore Open Super 750 in May, their first title in two years, but Satwik's recurring shoulder injury forced them to withdraw from the Indonesia Open and Japan Open since.

Satwik said the pair can beat any opponent on their day if fit, and they will not change their aggressive style despite the injury. The duo have two World Championships bronze medals and are determined to go one better on home soil.

Home fans are right to be excited, but calling Satwik-Chirag automatic medal favourites ignores a brutally open draw, six different pairs have won the last six Worlds. Writing them off because of Satwik's shoulder is equally premature: they proved in Singapore they can beat the best even at 80 per cent. The real test is whether Satwik can sustain four tough matches in five days, something he has not managed since May.
Sources (2): hindustantimes.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.