Chirag Shetty is an Indian Badminton Player who is currently ranked #7 in men’s doubles world ranking and #3 in the men’s doubles world tour rank according to BWF. With a career-high rating of 7, he and his partner, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, are the first men's doubles duo from India to be ranked inside the top ten of the BWF World Ranking.
Chirag Shetty began playing badminton in his free time when he was seven years old. Eventually, his enthusiasm for the sport grew, and he began playing professionally at Goregaon Sports Club under the mentorship of Manish Hadkar. At the age of 16, Chirag chose to pursue his career as a professional badminton player.
During his school days, he competed in many clubs and state-level badminton events. Later, he moved to Hyderabad to train at the Pullela Gopichand Academy under Chief National Coach for the India National Badminton Team, Pullela Gopichand. Under his guidance, he competed in a number of national and international tournaments.
In 2013, he made his professional debut. He competed in the Sushant Chipalkatti Memorial India Junior International Badminton Championships. With his partner M.R Arjun., he earned his first-ever international gold medal in 2014 in the men's doubles event at the Swiss Junior Open. In the same year, he won his second international gold against Scotland in the Yonex Belgian Junior.
Later, the coaches at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad paired him with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. At first, this duo was uncomfortable with the pairing because they were predominantly backcourt players which makes it difficult to play as a team. However, the coaches told Shetty to improve on his front-court game as Rankireddy focused on the back-court game. Once they started doing that, they could see results coming. Following that, they gained fame after winning the Tata Open India International Challenge in 2016.
After several achievements, Chirag Shetty was nominated for the BWF Most Improved Player of the Year Awards 2018 along with his partner, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
Their latest achievement is at the India Open 2022 winning 1st against Ravi/Chirag Arora in a straight-set with the score of 21-14, 21-10.
They have won a couple of medals last year in 2021, they won 3rd at the Indonesia Open, Swiss Open, and Thailand Open. 2019 is also the year where they achieved a lot of medals including finishing 3rd at the China Open and Denmark Challenge, 2nd at the French Open, 1st at the Thailand Open, and Brazil International Challenge.
Source:
starsunfolded.com
bwfbadminton.com
