“The umpire wasn’t changing the shuttle, he is favoring the other players” - Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty on refereeing at Thomas Cup

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are back in action after a month-long hiatus from badminton, and it's like they never left. Playing in Chengdu at the Thomas Cup, the two are spearheading India's campaign as defending champions.

For the World No.1 pair, their round-robin matches have kept them busy, as they have been pushed to three sets both the times they've been on court. For their first encounter, they played Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul of Thailand, winning the match 21-19, 19-21, 21-12. Their next battle was against the British pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, which they won similarly.

Speaking of their experience at the Thomas Cup so far, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty aren't overly happy with the conditions and the referring.

“It wasn't pleasant, I mean, it wasn't very smooth. There were rough patches, but we kept on playing. A lot of service faults today, unfortunately, I don't know why. And things haven't been our way here, the umpire was not changing the shuttle early, he is favoring the other players. But it's a part of the game, and we still hang in there,” Rankireddy said in a post match media interaction after India's tie against England.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy went on to add that fast shuttles added to the challenges the duo was facing, but they were able to dig deep and pull through in the decider.

“The shuttles are very fast. And one shuttle is going very slow and one shuttle is going really fast. We couldn't adjust at the right time, but in the third game again, we played like, ‘let's play all out’. And the team was cheering pretty well. And we got pumped up," Satwik said.

Chirag Shetty was of a similar opinion, stating that the pair was happy to walk away with two important wins in tricky conditions.

“I think at the end of the day, winning is important. Not every time you go on the court and win on 500. All the players are pretty good and the conditions are quite tricky. That's one of the reasons why it's difficult to play out here.”

Shetty went on to add that while the shuttles were fast, they were also spinning, an unusual factor that added complexity to playing in tricky conditions.

“Not just for us, I think for all the pairs, the shuttles are quite tricky. It's spinning quite a lot, which is quite unusual. So it's dribbling quite a bit, (and then) suddenly it's wobbly mid-air. Even the singles players are finding it difficult to lift the shuttles. Everybody is sort of playing a very no-lops kind of a game.”

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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on making their comeback at the Thomas Cup

For Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, their Olympic year started on a high note. The duo made three consecutive finals, striking gold in their last one.

However, after a dominant victory at the French Open, the duo stumbled unexpectedly early at the prestigious All England Open. Post that, Rankireddy faced injury issues with his shoulder, which forced the Indian to withdraw from the Badminton Asia Championships, where they were the defending champions.

Speaking on their comeback in the same media interaction, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy says he's happy to be back on the court on the international stage.

“It's been a while since we've played good matches. The French (Open) was the last time we played a match and we got a one-month break. So it was very difficult for me after getting back from injury, as in (going) from complete rest and getting back again. And yeah, good to be back here and really happy the way we are playing from the two games.”

The shuttler went on to add that while he and Chirag Shetty aren't feeling back to full form, they're happy to be getting the wins and look forward to coming back to court for India's tie against Indonesia.

“Even though we are not there hundred percent, we still managed to level up in the third game when it really matters. I think we learn from this and we go back. We’ve got an almost one and a half day break now. And we come (back) with a fresh mindset and be more accepting of the mistakes, (try) not to get frustrated, think positive and plan with our coach.”

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will next be in action when they take on Indonesia in Chengdu on May 1.