Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the badminton doubles team known as Sat-Chi, ended a two-year drought when they won the Singapore Open Super 750 title in May. Less than four months later, the former world No. 1 team added another trophy to their mantle when they won the China Masters Super 750 title in Shenzhen. Runners-up at the China Masters in 2023 and 2025, Sat-Chi came back from one game down to defeat China’s He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu by a score of 11-21, 21-13, 21-17.
Winning four three-game matches in the tournament, Sat-Chi became the first Indian badminton players to ever win the China Masters. It was their 10th career title on the BWF World Tour.
Rankireddy compared the China Masters to the French Open, where they’ve won two titles. “We feel very comfortable, the stadium feels good, the atmosphere feels good,” he said.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge. [Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]