Chirag Shetty

Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty (born 4 July 1997) is an Indian badminton player. He and his partner, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, are the only doubles pair from India to become World No. 1 in BWF World Ranking, win BWF World Tour 1000 series, and became the first Indians to win a gold at the Asian games in badminton.

Early life and background
Shetty was born on 4 July 1997 in Malad, Mumbai in a Tulu family to Chandrashekhar and Sujata Shetty. His father is a hotelier. He started training in Uday Pawar Badminton Acacemy, located at Goregaon Sports Club, but later shifted to Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. Chirag initially partnered with Arjun M. R., but was later paired with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy by coach Tan Kim Her who felt that two tall, strong guys with skills could combine to become a formidable pair.

2018
In 2018, Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy played a crucial role in earning India a historic gold medal in the mixed team event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where they also won the men's doubles silver. They won their first BWF World Tour title in Hyderabad Open after beating the Indonesian pair of Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani in the final.

2019
In 2019, Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became the first Indian doubles pair to win a BWF Superseries or BWF World Tour (Super 500+) title, when they won the Thailand Open title, beating the Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the final. They followed it up with a runner-up finish at the 2019 French Open, where they lost in the final to the Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.

2021
In 2021, Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy lost to the Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the second round to crash out of the 2020 Yonex Thailand Open. In July, he and Rankireddy competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but were eliminated in the group stage, following a loss to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. However, they were the only pair in the entire tournament who defeated eventual gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, whom they had narrowly beat in their first group stage encounter. In December, Shetty and Rankireddy qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals for the first time in their career, but withdrew from the tournament after a loss in their first group stage match to the Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

2022
In 2022, Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy started the year by winning India Open. They were also part of India's Thomas Cup winning team. In the final, having lost the first game to the Indonesian duo of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan, they displayed immense perseverance and tenacity to win the second game and close out the third game at 21–19, giving India a 2–0 lead over Indonesia. This was pivotal in helping India bag its maiden Thomas Cup trophy. Shetty and Rankireddy then won the men's doubles gold at the Commonwealth Games, beating the home pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the final. At the BWF World Championships, Shetty and Rankireddy won a bronze medal, India's first-ever men's doubles medal at the tournament. They beat defending champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. Shetty and Rankireddy won the French Open making it their first Super 750 title in their career by beating Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han in the finals.

2023
In February, Chirag Shetty was a member of the Indian team which clinched the bronze medal at Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won their first title as a pair in the 2023 Swiss Open (badminton), beating the Chinese pair of Ren Xiangyu and Tan Qiang in the final. The duo also crowned as Asian Champion after winning the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships held in Dubai. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won their first BWF World Super 1000 title by defeating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the final of 2023 Indonesia Open, thus becoming the first men's doubles pair from India to win the event. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy went on to win 2023 Korea Open defeating Indonesian Pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

2024
With Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, he reached the final of Super 1000 event of 2024 Malaysia Open and lost to the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. Then they reached another final this year at 2024 India Open and again reached finals but lost to the Korean pair of Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae in a tough game. Then they finally achieved success by winning their first tour of this year in Super 750 event of 2024 French Open defeating Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan in straight games easily.

At the 2024 Singapore Open, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a first round exit to a Danish pair in straight games.

Honours

 * Bestowed with Arjuna Award for badminton in August 2020
 * Bestowed with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna for badminton in December 2023

World Championships
Men's doubles

Commonwealth Games
Men's doubles

Asian Games
Men's doubles

Asian Championships
Men's doubles

BWF World Tour (9 titles, 5 runners-up)
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's doubles

BWF International Challenge/Series (6 titles)
Men's doubles
 * BWF International Challenge tournament
 * BWF International Series tournament
 * BWF Future Series tournament

BWF Junior International (3 titles, 3 runners-up)
Boys' doubles

Mixed doubles
 * BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament
 * BWF Junior International Challenge tournament
 * BWF Junior International Series tournament
 * BWF Junior Future Series tournament

National team

 * Senior level

Record against selected opponents
Men's doubles results with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists. Accurate as of 17 March 2024.

National

 * Arjuna Award (2020)
 * Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour of India (2023)