India’s men’s doubles badminton pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were presented the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award is India’s highest sporting honour. The duo received the award from the Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi.
The pair were picked for the award in 2023, however they could not attend the award ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan that year owing to their sporting commitments. The award was to be presented to them in February but yet again it did not materialize as Satwik’s father, R Kasi Viswanatham, died of cardiac arrest on the day of the brief ceremony for which he was scheduled to travel.
“We couldn’t go to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to receive the Khel Ratna award last year. Finally, to get it now is a huge boost for our confidence as we are going off-track and not playing for few months,” Satwik said referring to the recent slump in form and the fitness setbacks that the two have been enduring.
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“It motivates us to get back and do well in the upcoming tournaments,” he added.
The duo richly deserved the award as they have been two of the best badminton players in the country and as a pair have achieved significant feats in the past few years.
In 2022, the duo were part of India’s men’s team that won the Thomas Cup in Bangkok. The historic Thomas Cup triumph was followed by the gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in the same year. The next year they won the gold medal at the 2023 Asian Championships. The pair rose to the number 1 spot in the BWF World Rankings and won a BWF World Tour Super 1000 title.
In 2023, Satwik also set the Guinness World Record for the fastest badminton smash by a male player, as his smash was clocked at a speed of 565 km/h.
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet Desk
One Response
Very nice