Satwik/Chirag becomes world number 1 men's doubles pair

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty jumped two spots to achieve their career-best ranking of World Number 1 in the latest BWF World Rankings on Tuesday.

They are the first Indian doubles pair to become the world no. 1 in the BWF rankings and the fourth Indian overall to attain the feat after legendary Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikanth.

The feat came days after the Indian duo won Indian badminton's maiden Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou, China.

Satwik-Chirag defeated Choi Soi Gyu and Kim Won Ho of South Korea in straight games (21-18, 21-16) to clinch the gold medal. They are the first Indian pair to win a men's doubles medal since the 1982 Asian Games when Leroy D'sa and Pradeep Gandhe won a bronze medal.

Satwik-Chirag also played a key role in the Indian team's silver medal-winning performance. India lost the final to China 2-3.

The pair has won a total of five titles in 2023: Swiss Open Super 300, Badminton Asia Championships, Indonesia Open Super 1000, Korea Open Super 500, and Asian Games gold.

Among other Indians, PV Sindhu climbed two places to take the 13th spot in women's singles despite missing out on a medal at the Asian Games, while HS Prannoy, who won a men's singles medal after 41 years in the continental showpiece, slipped a place to world no 8.

Lakshya Sen, who won both his matches to play his part in the silver medal-winning effort in the men's team event, too dropped one spot to world number 15. Kidambi Srikanth gained a spot to 20th.

The women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly gained one place to grab the 16th position.