4 min readAug 20, 2026 11:43 PM IST
Between shouldering the burden of bringing a home World Championship medal and burdening his shoulder in trying to do it, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy kept Delhi’s Indira Gandhi stadium thoroughly entertained.
World badminton’s most powerful smash is currently fragile due to his overused shoulder. But there was no pulling back on smashes once he committed to them, as him and Chirag Shetty battled for 82 minutes against Malaysians Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap before reaching the quarters with a 21-23, 21-19, 21-17 back-from-the-brink win and get within one step of their third Worlds medal.
The Delhi crowd was offered something that goes beyond medals, national pride and partisanship: pure edge-of-the-seat entertainment. They wholeheartedly embraced the ups and downs that the duo offered – taped shoulder, misfiring shots, warts and all.
When they lost the opening game from 16-12 up, the crowd wouldn’t have been faulted for giving up. But they stayed on. Even when things got dire at 21-23, 16-18, three points away from an exit. Satwik had been ambushed predictably by the young Malaysians who saw an opportunity to scalp a patchy, scratchy pair of Indian giants.
But while tendons and bones might break, the fight never cracked.Tan Kim Her and Pullela Gopichand were on the coaching bench, with the latter forgetting his inscrutable ways and clapping, wincing, shuddering, expressing glee – not too different from what fans in the stands would.
Even if Satwik struggled on fast parallels, he laboured on and plodded past the pain. The shoulder felt more tense and Satwik admitted he was stressing more over his health than strategy. A surgery is imminent, but before that there is a home World Championship to honour, even temporarily forgetting the shoulder and the shooting pain it sent through his arm.
“All good,” he would reassure nevertheless, not wanting to fuss.
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Crossing pain barrier
Chirag took on the defensive duties on both flanks, front and back, though the Malaysians tried turning the knife in the direction of where Satwik hunched. The shoulder is busted, but the Indians refused to give up on the 1-2. First Chirag soared, then Satwik went up, knowing their attack could break the spirit of any opponent.
The Chirag swivel serve delayed the chance to pounce, and both Indians kept the shuttle in play till they could string together an attacking 1-2. Satwik was being cautious, because he was literally risking the shoulder with every hit.
The decider was earned with plenty of hard labour and chewed nails in the stands, and the duo made it unforgettable for those who had turned up, and stayed on.
They trailed 12-15 again, but they have navigated enough bad days. Satwik stepped up in time, Chirag remained aggressive as optimum smashing got the job done.
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“There have been situations before when we didn’t feel perfect but fought back,” Chirag said.
The 19-17 point was the rally of the day. The Indians were under heavy smashing attack, survived it, made the offensive transition in a long rally and eventually ended with a smash. “We decided not to complicate,” Satwik added.
They need to down old enemies Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang to secure another medal. “We will prepare well tactically,” they said, as doubles kept Indian hopes alive.
“We couldn’t stay focused,” Yap said.
Satwik-Chirag had mastered focusing even when everything seemed out of place as they celebrated their 10 years together.
