It was not an ideal start for Indian men’s doubles player Chirag Shetty after suffering two first-round exits in as many tournaments this year. But representing Pune 7 Aces in Premier Badminton League (PBL), where he partnered Hendra Setiawan, turned out to be a great experience for him ahead of the crucial Tokyo Olympic games.
However, their partnership, where the pair won six out of the seven games, wasn’t even enough to take Pune 7 Aces to its maiden final appearance as they were knocked out on Saturday after suffering 3-4 defeat against 2019 champions Bengaluru Raptors.
Speaking about the experience of playing alongside Indonesian great, Chirag said: “It could not have come at a better time. Learning from him by playing alongside helped me. As both of us are frontcourt players, so I have learnt quite a few things, mainly to keep calm while at the net,” he said about his partner, who won Gold in 2008 Beijing Olympic games besides having five World Championship medals (4 Gold and 1 Bronze) and is currently ranked second in men’s doubles world ranking.
“I learnt a different style of play because we are used to of playing in the same way and partnering him you get to see the other side of it as well,” he added.
Discussing what’s different in Setiawan’s and his partner Mohammad Ahsan style compared to him and his Indian doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankiredddy. 2018 Commonwealth Games Gold medallist said, “I and Satwik play a lot more hard kind of games where we rely a lot more on our power game. Whereas Setiawan and Ahsan try to create openings and they keep the shuttle as low as possible. And if the shuttle is low, they will try to keep it at the net, they won’t lift it. So that is one thing I have been working on and avoid lifting the shuttle,” he said.
At World rank 10 and currently eighth in terms of points in Olympic qualification period which ends on April 30, Chirag-Satwik pair is almost certain to secure Tokyo berth becoming the first men’s pair to represent India in Olympics.
And Chirag wants to make sure that after confirming Olympic place, the pair work more on weak areas and prepare best for the Tokyo event.
“The primary target for us is just to qualify for the Olympics and once we are there, we will try to work more on our weak points and our fitness.”
“It is a continuous process, it doesn’t come in a day or two. There is always room for improvement and we are working a lot on our defence and some other areas as well that we want to better ourselves in,” he said when asked about the Olympic preparations.