Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Indian shuttlers, who scripted history by clinching a historic gold medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai on Sunday.
The 2022 World Championships bronze medallists scripted a sensational comeback after an opening game reversal to edge past the Malaysian combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-16, 17-21, 19-21 in a nail-biting final to accomplish a magnificent victory in the continental championship.
After their win, PM Modi was quick to congratulate them through a social media post.
"Proud of @satwiksairaj and @Shettychirag04 for scripting history by becoming the first Indian Men's Doubles pair to win the Badminton Asia Championships Title. Congratulations to them and wishing them the very best for their future endeavours," he tweeted.
Here is his tweet:
India's previous best performance in men's doubles at the Asia Championships was a bronze-medal finish by Dipu Ghosh and Raman Ghosh in 1971. Satwik and Chirag, who claimed the Swiss Open Super 300 title in Basel, showed tremendous grit as they never gave up after losing the first game and being 7-13 and 11-15 in the second and third game to secure the first gold for India in doubles.
It was the second title of the season for Satwik and Chirag, who continued to remain the best shuttlers for the country on display this season.
Besides the Asia Championships title, Satwik and Chirag also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games and five career titles on the BWF World Tour.
The two pairs came into the summit clash after sharing the honours in six meetings, with Satwik and Chirag coming up trumps in the semi-final of the Swiss Open in March this year.
(With Inputs from PTI)