A Chirag Shetty smash brushed Ren Xiang Yu’s racquet before dropping beside him, sending the Indians into wild celebrations. Their racquets were soon tossed aside as the duo embraced, before Satwiksairaj Rankireddy broke into his customary post-win dance.
Chirag, meanwhile, took off his jersey and threw it into the stands.
That was when the back brace Chirag was wearing became visible. A closer look at his recent matches shows that the star shuttler has been using the support for some time and he is often seen adjusting it during matches.
Asked about the brace, Chirag confirmed that he has been wearing it for almost a year and a half, ever since suffering a back injury at the 2025 All England Open that forced him to take a two-month break from
the sport.
“Yes, I have been playing with it. I have been wearing the belt for almost a year and a half now, since the injury at the All England last year. I think if I get a period of one month, probably in December, when I can have a good stretch of practice leading up to a tournament, that is when I can try playing without the belt and see how I feel,” Chirag said while replying to a query from News18 Sports during a media interaction.
“That is the plan. But until then, I am not confident enough to play without it,” Chirag added.
But these occasional injuries and the lingering doubts surrounding them have not stopped Chirag and Satwik from putting up consistent performances on the tour. They finished runners-up at the Thailand Open in May, won the Singapore Open that month and capped off with the China Masters triumph on Sunday, September 6, less than two weeks ahead of their Asian Games title defence.
Both Satwik and Chirag credited their historic recent win to a marked improvement in their physical condition, after a disappointing campaign at the BWF World Championships on home soil, where they were defeated in straight games by their nemeses Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the quarterfinals.
Satwik-Chirag fought back to defeat China’s He Ji Ting and Ren 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 in Sunday’s final, bagging their maiden China Masters title and second BWF World Tour crown of the season.
“We were much better physically after the World Championships. That was the difference mainly,” Satwik said while speaking to the media.
The men’s doubles event at the Asian Games starts on September 27, with the team event beginning on Sunday, September 20.
Satwik and Chirag are India’s strongest gold-medal hopes at the much-anticipated Games and it remains to be seen whether they can carry the momentum from their brilliant China Masters win to another top-of-the-podium finish in Aichi-Nagoya.
