BWF World Championships: Chirag Shetty Vows To Change Colour Of Medal In New Delhi

Mumbai’s shuttler Chirag Shetty, in partnership with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, won the pair’s second medal in the BWF World Championships in Paris recently. The 28-year-old is now targeting final berth, preferably gold at the home in the next edition of the tournament. New Delhi is scheduled to host the event in 2026.

“We shall be back in the next edition and hopefully change the colour of the medal,” Shetty said in a social media message.

The Indian pair won India’s only medal from the Paris edition. The duo had won the first Badminton Worlds bronze medal during the 2022 edition. The world No. 9 pair notched up a commanding win over their nemesis, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, in the quarterfinals.

Malaysia’s two-time Olympic medallists had been a nightmare for them during the Paris Olympics. They returned without a medal after many expectations. Chia and Soh had beaten the Indians in Singapore and China this year as well.

They had their moment finally against the Malaysian pair in Paris, the city where their Olympic dream was crushed a year ago. “It feels like redemption,” Chirag Shetty had said after the quarterfinal win.

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However, their bid to become the first Indian men’s doubles pair to reach the final ended in defeat to China’s 11th seeds, Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi, in the semifinals. After touching a high in the quarterfinals, the duo seemed exhausted in the semifinals and couldn’t repeat their peak performance.

The bronze medal, though, helped Satwik and Chirag join badminton singles legends PV Sindhu (5) and Saina Nehwal (2) as the only Indians to win multiple medals at the World Championships.

Chirag-Satwik duo from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, who harnessed their skills at Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, had endured a difficult phase marked by injuries, poor form, and personal loss, before the tournament. Satwik suffered back and elbow injuries post-Olympics, and just as he returned, tragedy struck with the passing of his father due to cardiac arrest in February. He was sidelined again by chickenpox.

Chirag struggled with a back injury that had been troubling him during the course of the career.

“A big thank you to our team and sponsors for always having our back in the good and the bad times. Things haven’t been the smoothest post the Olympics, but to come here and win a medal in the same arena a year later is surely special,” he said.

The medal extended India’s streak of podium finishes at the World Championships since 2011. The breakthrough came when the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the first bronze for India at the Worlds. Prakash Padukone opened India’s account with a bronze in 1983. Sindhu has won a gold (2019), two silver and two bronze medals. Kidambi Srikanth also has men’s singles silver medal.

Chirag doesn’t want to stop here, but he wants to improve the game and create history next time.

“Of course, we would have loved to have our second world championship medal of a different colour, but I am proud of the journey we’ve had and the way we’ve bounced back from the setbacks. Our fans and well-wishers motivate us to do better,” he added.

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Shetty, who did his schooling from Ryan International school started playing at the age of seven under former international Uday Pawar at Goregoan Sports Complex. He still makes a point to train at GSC whenever in the home city.