Badminton News
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was long absent from the international circuit after representing India at the Paris Olympics 2024. He revealed the actual reason after bowing out of the China Masters Super 750 on Saturday.
Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. (Photo: AFP)
New Delhi: India’s star men’s doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy came back in action after being absent from the international circuit for quite long. He featured for India at the China Masters Super 750 tournament with his counterpart Chirag Shetty and the duo’s campaign ended with a loss against Korea on Saturday. After the match, Satwik revealed why was he out of action for so long.
Satwik and Chirag reached the semifinals at the tournament taking place in Shenzhen in an impressive run but fell short against Jin Yong and Seo Seung Jae of Korea, losing the match 18-21, 21-14, 16-21 in a hard-fought battle. Post-match Satwik revealed he had sustained two injuries which delayed his return to competitive badminton after the Paris Games.
“I got injured, and the injury was there even before the Olympics. I was dealing with two injuries, one in my back and the other in my elbow, where I had a tear,” Satwik said as quoted by PTI.
“It took us some time. We thought we’d be ready for the next tournament and would send our entry, but about a week before, the injury would worsen again, so we had to withdraw. We couldn’t figure it out initially. Later, we sat down, addressed it, and now we’ve figured things out. I’m feeling good and really happy to be back on court,” Satwik added
What did Chirag say?
Chirag echoed the sentiments of Satwik saying that they arrived in the tournament without any high expectations but were pleased with their outing. “I was training while Satwik was recovering. But I’m really happy with how we played. Although we couldn’t reach the final, we didn’t know what to expect from this tournament or how far we would go. So, overall, I’m really happy,” Chirag said.
Satwik, who was returning to action after three months, admitted that it took the pair some time to adapt to the pace of competitive games. He said that they were a bit shocked with the start as the pace was suddenly high and they couldn’t match it in the first set of the opening match. But from the second game, they started to adjust and improved day by day.
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