‘No Added Pressure’: Satwik-Chirag Focus On Fine-tuning Ahead Of Asian Games

‘No added pressure’: Satwik-Chirag focus on fine-tuning ahead of Asian Games (‘No added pressure’: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty focus on fine-tuning ahead of Asian Games after winning the China Masters over the weekend. Mandatory photo credit: Badminton Photo/BWF)

The World No: Fresh from winning the China Masters, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are focused on making the most of the 10-day window before the Asian Games, with the reigning champions insisting there is no added pressure despite entering the continental showpiece as defending champions.

“No, not necessarily. I think we’ve played. This is going to be the third Asian Games. And I think we are used to the games, like playing at such big stages. So I think there’s no added pressure as such of playing a big event. But I think pressure is always there. For each and every tournament that you play, this is how you are able to cope with it and handle it. And I think we just want to go like, we have 10 days of practice before we head to the Asian Games, and we want to go out there and give it our best.

"So before we take that flight to Nagoya, we want to practise all the shortcomings and improve on things we want to improve on. And I think in the next 10 days, that would be our goal to keep our bodies fit and to work on the things that need to be worked on,” Chirag Shetty told IANS in a virtual interaction.

The World No. 5 Indians were made to work hard in the China Masters final on Sunday as they came from behind to beat China’s He and Ren 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 in a 70-minute thriller. The victory was especially sweet for Satwik and Chirag, who finished second in the China Masters in 2023 and 2025 and reached the semifinals in 2024. They became the first Indian men's doubles pair to win the event since its inception in 2005. Reflecting on their victory, the pair said the title has given them a timely confidence boost ahead of the Asian Games.

“Yeah, it feels really good, obviously, to win the China Masters right before the Asian Games. It definitely gives us a huge confidence boost going into the Asian Games, especially after having a tough few months being away from the court. So it definitely gives us a boost that, yes, the thing that we are doing is actually working. And we’ve got some really good match practice as well. And it definitely is a good sign. And yeah, I think we just want, as I said before, we just want to go out there and give our best at the Asian Games. It’s a major event. And we’ve always looked up to and wanted to perform well at the Asian Games. And likewise, this time too, we want to go out there and really do well for the country.”

Their win at the China Masters was the 10th BWF World Tour title of their careers and the third World Tour final of 2026. They were runners-up at the Thailand Open in May and claimed the Singapore Open title later that month.

The Chinese pair got off to a flying start in the final, racing into a 5-0 lead and remaining in control to lead 11-5 at the interval. Satwik and Chirag could not get going and eventually lost the first game 11-21 in 18 minutes. In game two, the Indians answered emphatically. China raced to a 2-0 lead, but Satwik and Chirag rallied to level at 3-3 and 6-6 and then took charge.

The world No. 5 Indians were made to work hard in the China Masters final on Sunday as they came from behind to beat China’s He and Ren 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 in a 70-minute thriller.

The victory was especially sweet for Satwik and Chirag, who finished second in the China Masters in 2023 and 2025 and reached the semifinals in 2024. They became the first Indian men's doubles pair to win the event since its inception in 2005.

Their China Masters campaign also helped them address some of the issues that surfaced during their quarterfinal exit at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi last month.

Reflecting on their victory, the pair said the title has given them a timely confidence boost ahead of the Asian Games.

“I think it’s mainly physical, I think. I think it's the physical aspect. I think we became much better after the World Championship. We got time; we got adjusted. And it was difficult for us at the World Championship because we didn’t have much time. One match, and then we played the quarterfinals right away. So I think after the World Championship, our bodies kind of got settled down, used to it, then we kind of got better. Then we weren’t sure as well in the China Masters, like how much we can cope with the body throughout the week. So we are just taking one match at a time. So I think overall, it was pretty much comfortable throughout the week. So that’s a good sign going ahead.”

Chirag added that the experience of playing several matches in China gave them greater confidence in their physical condition.

“Yeah, I think to add to what Satwik said, I think at the World Championships, we didn’t really get a lot of court time as such. Especially going into a tough match in the quarterfinals against the Chinese. And we were playing a tournament after almost three odd months. And the first one that we played was very scratchy. And obviously, I think our bodies didn’t cope as well. Whereas when we played five matches here at the China Open, and we almost played three games, barring the first round, we played four, three games. And yet, I think the body feels a lot better than it was at the World Championships. So I think we got another week of practice going towards the China Masters. And I think that really helped us to do well at the China Masters. And yeah, I think that’s the thing.”

One of the biggest lessons from the World Championships was the need to remain patient while attacking and trust their defensive game.

“I think one of the major things that we incorporated from the World Championships is to be patient while we are attacking and to trust our defence. I think that’s one thing which we did fairly well at the China Masters. I think we weren’t in a hurry to finish it when we got those lifts. And we were quite, I think, sure of what strokes we have to play and want to play. And even when things were not going our way, or when, I think, even when we were doing the right things, maybe a little slower, maybe not doing the right things, we were still trusting our instincts and trusting ourselves that, yes, we can still get those wins. We just need to do the right things again and again, and eventually the win will come. And I think that’s what happened. Even when we were down, we were able to come back quite well.”

Satwik also felt the World Championships had shown that they could compete at the highest level even when not operating at their best physically.

“Yeah, I mean, from the World Championships, I think the takeaway would be like, even without our A weapons, we kind of played at a high level. So that was a very good point, as in, like, physically wasn’t there, like fully not yet there. But I think still playing at the top level, I think that was a huge confidence for us. I think even though we weren’t, like, I wasn’t able to smash 100% still, we are playing quarterfinals and travelling with the top players. I think that gave us a lot of confidence for me.”

The duo also highlighted the importance of adapting their tactics according to their opponents, having faced a variety of playing styles at the China Masters.

“Yeah, I think we just discussed, like, didn’t really discuss as much. I think it was just plainly tactics on how we approach each game at the China Masters. And each pair that we played at the China Masters had a very, very different game. Like in the first round, we played a Malaysian pair who, I think, wouldn’t want to lift as much, whereas the ones we played in the quarterfinals were the French pair who are both singles players. So they want to lift as high as possible and get into the defence. Similarly, in the quarterfinals as well, against Kim and Anas, we had an extremely strong defence. And so I think we played a very, very sort of like a lot of different kinds of opponents, which I think we sat down and discussed for each match and analysed what we needed to do and what needed to be done. I think that’s what we did. Before the tournament, we just had meetings where, like, what went wrong at the World Championships and how we could improve things, maybe psychologically, maybe technically or whatever. But I think all those shortcomings that we had at the World Championships, I think we were able to address them and correct them quite well at the China Masters.”

With five matches played in China, the pair also got a valuable test of their physical readiness for the Asian Games.

“Yeah, I think it wasn’t challenging mentally. It was challenging physically. Because we played a late match last night. Then again, we had less time to recover. It happened all the time during the finals. And again, playing against China, it’s not an easy thing. So it was always like the whole tournament scenario was, like, over physically. Like, the next day we wake up, and we have a talk, like, we are physically good enough to push. Or we talked about this so that we could push in the match. So, so far it has happened in a good way. So we didn’t have any negative signs. So I think we were focusing more on ourselves rather than the opponent. So we were just focusing on ourselves, sticking to basic plans, basic strategies, what we wanted to do. And we were pretty much confident on the final day as well. But we couldn’t start really well. But I think as the game progressed, I think we became much more confident in ourselves. And we kind of stuck to the game plan. We kept it very simple. And we played, like, pretty much kind of A game there in the finals.”

Chirag said the demanding week also reassured them about their fitness.

“Yeah, I think it wasn’t challenging mentally. It was challenging physically. Because we played a late match last night. Then again, we had less time to recover. It happened all the time during the finals. And again, playing against China, it’s not an easy thing. So it was always like the whole tournament scenario was, like, over physically. Like, the next day we wake up, and we have a talk, like, we are physically good enough to push. Or we talked about this so that we could push in the match. So, so far it has happened in a good way. So we didn’t have any negative signs. So I think we were focusing more on ourselves rather than the opponent. So we were just focusing on ourselves, sticking to basic plans, basic strategies, what we wanted to do. And we were pretty much confident on the final day as well. But we couldn’t start really well. But I think as the game progressed, I think we became much more confident in ourselves. And we kind of stuck to the game plan. We kept it very simple. And we played, like, pretty much kind of A game there in the finals.”

The reigning Asian Games champions will now have 10 days to prepare before travelling to Nagoya, with the focus firmly on fitness, correcting shortcomings and carrying the confidence from China into the continental event.

Article Source: IANS