Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (born 13 August 2000) is an Indian badminton player. He and his partner, Chirag Shetty, 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. Also, they became the 5th pair in men's doubles history to achieve 100000 points in the BWF ranking.

He achieved a new Guinness World Record for the fastest hit in badminton by a male player, with his smash reaching a speed of 565 km/h.

Early life and background
Rankireddy hails from a town named Amalapuram in the state of Andhra Pradesh and started playing badminton after following in the footsteps of his father, who was a state-level player in the past, as well his elder brother. In 2014, he joined the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and decided to become a doubles specialist.

2018
In 2018, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty played a crucial role in earning India the 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, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 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, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 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 Shetty 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 beaten in their first group stage encounter. In December, Rankireddy and Shetty 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, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty started the year by winning the 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. Rankireddy and Shetty then won the men's doubles gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, beating the home pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the final. At the BWF World Championships, Rankireddy and Shetty 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. They then won their first ever BWF World Super 750 title in the French Open by beating Chinese Taipei pair Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han in the finals.

2023
In 2023, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 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. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty 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. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went on to win 2023 Korea Open defeating Indonesian Pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

2024
With Chirag Shetty, 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.

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 (10 titles)
Men's doubles

Mixed doubles
 * BWF International Challenge tournament
 * BWF International Series tournament
 * BWF Future Series tournament

BWF Junior International (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Boys' doubles


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

National team

 * Junior level


 * Senior level

Junior level

 * Boys' doubles
 * Mixed doubles

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

Awards and recognition
Guinness world record

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest hit by a male player in badminton, with his smash reaching a speed of 565 km/h. The previous record of 493 km/h was held by Malaysian player Tan Boon Heong, set in May 2013. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made the record-breaking smash at the Yonex factory gymnasium in Soka, Saitama, Japan, under controlled conditions. Official judges from the Guinness World Records verified the speed measurement results, solidifying Satwik's historic achievement.

National

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