After a year of heartbreaks, injury layoffs and missing multiple tournaments, India’s star badminton pair scripted a picture-perfect redemption with a Bronze medal at the recently concluded BWF World Championships. The ace duo beat their long-time rivals, the same opponents that they lost to at the 2024 Paris Olympics quarterfinals – Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik – to win their second Bronze medal at the World Championships. In an exclusive conversation, Chirag Shetty opened up on their redemption, the goal of staying injury free and the road to LA 28.
Boria Majumdar: What are your first thoughts? It was a difficult draw – Liang and Wang and then Chia and Soh. Tell us about the bronze medal…
Chirag: Firstly, thank you for having me. Like you said, post-Olympics things weren’t great, both personally and professionally, but this feels like redemption. When the draw came out, we knew it was tough right from the first round — facing a Chinese side, then two pairs we hadn’t done well against recently. Going into the tournament, we just wanted to play at our best without worrying too much about the result. I’m happy we could come back with a medal.
Gargi Raut: You talk about redemption. So, was there a moment when you and Satwik felt, ‘We’re so back?’
Chirag: I’m not someone who holds on to wins or losses for too long. After the rematch (of the Paris Olympics quarterfinals), yes, we felt really good, especially beating the Malaysians. It was exactly a year later, in the same stadium, on the same court, in the same stage: quarterfinals. It felt destined. After the match, we felt really good, but once back in India, our focus quickly shifted to the next goals ahead.
Boria: In the semifinal against the Chinese, you led 11–6 in the decider. What happened? Was there something you could’ve done differently?
Chirag: Obviously, we wanted to win that match. We were playing well till 11–6, but then a few easy points slipped, and they really stepped up. They started mixing their serves quite well. Especially in the third game, it caught us by surprise. But then they started serving quite well on the front foot and started mixing it with flicks, which we weren’t expecting after mostly short serves earlier. That caught us by surprise. Looking back, instead of trying to attack those front-court serves, maybe we should’ve let them go and built the rally from the third or fourth shot. A lot of ifs and buts, but yes, we would’ve wanted to play better in that third set.
Gargi: Was there a difference in your mindset walking into this World Championships compared to other tournaments?
Chirag: Always. For major tournaments, the approach changes, you want at least two to three weeks of solid training before. For other tournaments, you play back-to-back without much buildup. Before the World Championships, we managed 2-3 weeks of good practice sessions. I had some back niggles that kept me out for a couple of days, but overall the preparation was decent.
Gargi: Was this bronze less about proving to the world and more about proving to yourselves that you still belong at the very top?
Chirag: Definitely proving to ourselves. We’ve won World Championship medals before, but beating two tough pairs back-to-back this time was crucial. Whenever we’ve played a semi-final or a final or won a major event, we’ve been inside the top 8 (world rankings), so you take three good matches and win the title. Normally, you only face top pairs from the quarters onward. But here, from the first round itself, it was tough. We hadn’t done well against these pairs recently, one was last year’s silver medallist, the other a bronze medallist. It’s always a tough battle against them. To get past both and win a medal made it really special.
Boria: There’s a lot of talk about workload management in sport, like with Jasprit Bumrah in cricket. For you and Satwik, with 25 tournaments in a year, how do you balance injuries and scheduling?
Chirag: It’s a genuine and real concern. Only those who play and know the demands of the sport know how hard it is to keep your body fit week in, week out. For us, it’s quality over quantity. I’d rather play fewer tournaments and win more titles, than play 20 and not win any. With the injuries we’ve had, managing workload is crucial now. That’s our goal right now. If we can keep our bodies healthy, we know we’ll stay at the top.
Gargi: Talking about Paris 2024 and the redemption arc – How did you balance public expectation with your personal healing when the whole country was watching?
Chirag: Honestly, I’m my biggest critic. Nobody pushes me harder or critiques me more than I do. Expectations are there, but I take them positively. People believe in us and expect us to win. Still, it’s external noise. When you win, people celebrate you. When you lose, they’ll say – you don’t know how to play. You can avoid it or if you don’t, listen to it and let it go from the other ear. That’s what I try to do.
Boria: On coach Tan Kim Her, what’s been his impact? And also, that dive in the Round-of-16 match, did you realise what you were doing at that moment?
Chirag: Coach’s return has been really good. He’s had a great influence on me and Satwik, he was the one who paired me and Satwik originally, back when we were raw. He shaped us into world-class players before he left. Now when he’s come back… we’ve already been world number ones, so the approach from him has completely changed. It’s more about discussions, what works, what doesn’t. He’ll ask us ‘what do you think is working and what isn’t’ and give us feedback. He decides the programmes, which wasn’t the case before because we were really young and it’s the minor details that we need to fix. It’s been great working with him again.
About the dive, I remember Satwik served, moved into the net, and played it down at 17–16 in the third game. We didn’t really want to lift, and somehow Wang kept it down. I had no option but to dive. Luckily, I managed to get up quickly, defend, and then Satwik went on to kill that stroke. It was a crucial point, if we’d lost it, the game could’ve gone either way. Winning that rally gave us huge momentum, and we closed it out from there.
Gargi: Where are you and Satwik right now – In terms of the mental side of things? How do you define success? Titles, rankings, or consistency?
Chirag: First, staying injury-free. The past year we’ve missed many tournaments. I have never had a phase where I was out for two-three months at one go. For me, it was quite difficult to come back after the back injury. So, the first aim is to keep ourselves injury free. Next is winning titles. Rankings will follow, two months ago we were 27, now back to 9, and hopefully in the top five by year-end. The big goal is to qualify for and perform well at the World Tour Finals, which we’ve only played once before.
Boria: You once said you won’t stop till you have an Olympic medal. Is that still the dream?
Chirag: Definitely. That will always be the elusive medal. We’ve won at all major events Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Thomas Cup, World Championships, Asian Championships. The only one left is the Olympics, which is the pinnacle for any athlete. We’ll give everything for it. It’s still three years away, but preparation happens every single day. Hopefully, things will be different from Paris and Tokyo.
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