Badminton: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty back in top 5 of BWF world rankings ahead of French Open 2025
Satwik-Chirag move to third place in BWF World Rankings
This year has been a tough one for India’s badminton stars, with some of their best players, including the likes of Olympians PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, struggling to make much of an impact on the global scene to date.
However, the one shining light for the nation has been their star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who have repeatedly reached the latter stages of the tournaments they have participated in.
Satwik and Chirag turned up again for their country last week in Denmark in the prestigious Odense event by defying the betting odds to reach the semi-final of the competition, which earned them a massive 7,700 points in the BWF global rankings.
Following that tournament, the Indian shuttlers moved up to third place in the world according to the latest rankings released on October 21. This is a massive achievement when considering they were ranked as low as 27th as recently as May.
To illustrate just how well Satwik and Chirag have performed in recent times - of the last five Super 750 events they have featured in 2025, the pair have made the semi-final four times and went on to reach the final in both the Hong Kong and China Masters.
Can Satwik-Chirag continue their impressive form in France?
The 2025 French Open kicked off at the Glaz Arena in Cesson-Sevign on Tuesday morning, and India have already experienced a major blow, with Lakshya Sen suffering yet another early exit, eliminated from the competition in the first round by Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in straight sets.
As a result, the pressure is once again firmly on Rankireddy and Shetty to carry the nation’s hopes of a podium finish, and they are the clear favourites with all the best betting sites in India for their opening match of the competition against the Indonesian pair of Muhammad Ardianto and Rahmat Hidayat on Wednesday.
Despite their heartbreak at the Olympic Games last year, Paris is still one of Satwik and Chirag’s favourite venues, having won the French Open title in 2022 and earned bronze at the World Championship here in 2019.
Other Indian players who will be hoping to make their mark in this competition are Pruthvi Roy and Krishnaprasad Sai Pratheek, also in the men’s doubles, while Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde have made a winning start in the mixed doubles, beating Ukraine’s Oleksii Titov and Yehveniia Kantemyr in straight sets.
