Satwik–Chirag — The New Indian Express
Three months after Singapore ended their drought, and after a summer spent managing Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's shoulder, he and Chirag Shetty have won the China Masters — the first Indians to do so. The comparison with Paes and Bhupathi has never fitted better, and it has never been more instructive.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had lost two China Masters finals in Shenzhen already: in 2023 to Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, then the world No. 1 pair, and last year to Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, the reigning world champions. On Sunday they lost the first game of a third final 11-21, to a Chinese pair ranked 70th in the world. Then they won the next two, 21-13, 21-17, and became the first Indians to win the tournament.
The home pair, He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu, led 11-5 at the first interval and took the opening game comfortably. He is a former world No. 4, back on the circuit after a long absence. In the second game the Indians led 11-7 at the break and won ten of the last sixteen points. The decider was level at 7-7 and still close at 16-17, from where Satwik and Chirag won the last five points of the match. It took an hour and ten minutes. Their head-to-head record against He and Ren is now 3-0.
The result matters beyond the trophy. It is the pair's second Super 750 title of 2026 after the Singapore Open in May, and the fourth of their careers — the first season in which they have won two titles at that level, one tier below the BWF World Tour's Super 1000 events. It comes after a summer in which Satwik's shoulder forced them to retire from two tournaments and a home World Championships ended in a 36-minute quarter-final defeat. It comes thirteen days before the Asian Games, where they will defend India's only badminton gold in the history of the event. And it revives, with more justification than ever, a nickname borrowed from Indian tennis: the new Indian Express.
Singapore Open · 31 May
Super 750 · beat Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Shohibul Fikri (Indonesia, world No. 3) · 1 hr 13 min
| G1 | Alfian / Fikri | 18–21 |
| G2 | Satwik / Chirag | 21–17 |
| G3 | Satwik / ChiragFirst Indian pair to win the Singapore Open men's doubles | 21–16 |
China Masters · 6 September
Super 750 · beat He Jiting / Ren Xiangyu (China, world No. 70) · 1 hr 10 min
| G1 | He / Ren | 11–21 |
| G2 | Satwik / Chirag | 21–13 |
| G3 | Satwik / ChiragFirst Indians to win the China Masters | 21–17 |
Five matches in Shenzhen
The week did not come easily, and that was part of its value. After a straight-games opener against Malaysia's Arif and Kang Khai Xing, every match went the distance. In the round of 16, France's Christo and Toma Junior Popov took the second game 24-22 before the Indians won 21-17, 22-24, 21-9 in 69 minutes. Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen pushed them to 21-13, 16-21, 21-18 in the quarter-final. In the semi-final, Malaysia's Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong were beaten 21-16, 18-21, 21-11 in 66 minutes. Khel Now's tally had the fourth seeds on court for more than five hours across the week.
"Today, we kind of held our nerves. We didn't make easy mistakes in the end," Satwik said after the final. Chirag described the plan for the second game as being "aggressive, but mindfully aggressive."
The tournament itself had become a recurring item in their story. This was their fourth straight China Masters semi-final. "Playing here is always good. We have always played well coming back from injury," Satwik said, recalling that they had reached the semi-finals in 2024, straight after the Paris Olympics, and the final last year when, in his words, they "weren't in good shape." In 2024 they lost at that stage to Korea's Seo Seung-jae and Jin Yong, 18-21, 21-14, 16-21; the two finals either side went to the best pairs in the world. "We kind of broke the jinx," Satwik said. The China Masters was first staged in 2005. No Indian had won it, in any event, until Sunday.
The pair went into the final ranked fifth in the world, and fourth-seeded; they had been fourth in the rankings when they won in Singapore. Ranking points matter less to them this month than match time. Five matches in a week, four of them over three games, are hard to replicate in training for a pair coming back from injury.
Singapore, and the summer after
The Singapore Open on 31 May had ended a drought of a different kind. Satwik and Chirag had not won a title since the Thailand Open in May 2024, and had lost four finals in between. In Kallang they beat the top seeds and reigning world champions, Kim and Seo, 21-19, 21-18 in the semi-final, ending the Koreans' 34-match winning streak, then came from a game down to beat Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 18-21, 21-17, 21-16. The Indonesians had beaten them in the Malaysia Open quarter-finals in January and led the head-to-head 2-1 going in; it finished level at two apiece. It was the first men's doubles title won by an Indian pair at the Singapore Open; until then only Indian singles players had won there, among them Saina Nehwal in 2010, B Sai Praneeth in 2017 and PV Sindhu in 2022.
"Two years... We knew for a fact that eventually the win will come."
Chirag said that in Singapore, and the patience in it was about to be tested again. Three days later, at the Indonesia Open, the pair retired in the first round with Satwik's shoulder failing. In July they came back at the Japan Open and retired again. At the World Championships in New Delhi in August, they reached the quarter-finals and lost to Liang and Wang 18-21, 9-21 in 36 minutes, which ended the chance of a third world medal to go with the bronzes of 2022 and 2025.
Satwik was frank about it afterwards. "It's complicated with my shoulder, but I just need to manage myself and play," he said in Delhi, adding that the condition varied from day to day and that he had put in "six good weeks of rehab and strengthening." Shenzhen was the second tournament of their return. The shoulder held for five matches, at least three of them longer than an hour.
| When | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| JAN | Malaysia OpenSuper 1000 · lost to Alfian / Fikri | QF |
| MAR–APR | Swiss Open, Asia ChampionshipsWithdrawn | — |
| 17 MAY | Thailand OpenSuper 500 · lost to Leo Rolly Carnando / Daniel Marthin 12–21, 23–25 | Final |
| 31 MAY | Singapore OpenSuper 750 · first title since May 2024 | Won |
| 3 JUN | Indonesia OpenRetired in the first round, Satwik's shoulder | Ret. |
| 14 JUL | Japan OpenRetired on their return | Ret. |
| 21 AUG | World Championships, New DelhiLost to Liang Weikeng / Wang Chang 18–21, 9–21 in 36 min | QF |
| 6 SEP | China MastersSuper 750 · first Indian champions | Won |
India's most decorated pair
The partnership began as a coach's hunch. In 2016 Tan Kim Her, the Malaysian who was then India's doubles coach, put two tall, attacking back-court players together: Chirag from Mumbai and Satwik from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh. It did not start smoothly. Satwik has said that Hindi and English did not come naturally to him and that at first he would not talk to Chirag during matches; Chirag, a back-court player himself, had to learn to work the front of the court. Within months they had won their first titles together, including the Tata Open India International.
What followed is the most complete record any Indian doubles pair has assembled in badminton. Commonwealth mixed-team gold and men's doubles silver at Gold Coast in 2018. The Thailand Open in 2019, the first Super 500 title won by an Indian pair. Then 2022, the year the partnership became a national institution: India's first Thomas Cup, Commonwealth gold in Birmingham, a first World Championships medal and the French Open. In 2023 came the Asian Championships, India's first gold there in 58 years, the Indonesia Open, which made them the first Indians to win a Super 1000, and Asian Games gold in Hangzhou. On 10 October 2023 they became the first Indian pair to reach world No. 1.
They lost the No. 1 ranking three weeks later, regained it on 23 January 2024 and held it for ten consecutive weeks by the end of March, passing Saina Nehwal's Indian record of nine. Satwik's 565 km/h smash was recognised by Guinness World Records in 2023 as the fastest hit by a male badminton player.
The title count needs a footnote, and ISJ would rather print it than smooth it. Reports in May counted Singapore as the pair's ninth World Tour title, which would make Shenzhen the tenth. That tally appears to leave out the 2018 Hyderabad Open, a Super 100 the pair won; include it, and Sunday was their eleventh.
The original Indian Express
The nickname belonged first to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. In 1999 they reached the final of all four Grand Slam tournaments, the first team to do so in the Open era, won the French Open and Wimbledon, and rose to No. 1 in the world. They won a third major together at Roland Garros in 2001, Asian Games gold in 2002 and again in 2006, and a record run of 24 consecutive Davis Cup doubles wins between 1997 and 2010. Over their careers, mostly with other partners, Paes won 18 Grand Slam titles and Bhupathi 12.
They also came apart. The partnership fractured within a few years of 1999, reunited and split again, and before the London Olympics in 2012 Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to play with Paes, forcing the All India Tennis Association to send two teams. The closest the original Express came to an Olympic medal was fourth place at Athens in 2004.
The comparison with Satwik and Chirag is not new. In July 2023, before the Asian Games gold and the No. 1 ranking, Gautam Bhattacharyya wrote in National Herald of "a new Indian Express in the making on the badminton courts." It has more evidence behind it now, and the parallel is sharper than the nickname suggests.
Paes & Bhupathi · tennis
The peak. World No. 1 in 1999, the year they reached all four Grand Slam finals and won two.
Together. Three Grand Slam titles: French Open 1999 and 2001, Wimbledon 1999. Asian Games gold, 2002 and 2006.
The team. 24 consecutive Davis Cup doubles wins, 1997–2010.
The Olympics. Fourth at Athens 2004.
The partnership. Fractured; by London 2012 Bhupathi would not partner Paes.
Satwik & Chirag · badminton
The peak. World No. 1 from 10 October 2023, the first Indian pair there; ten straight weeks at the top in 2024.
Together. Ten World Tour titles by the count in use this week, including a Super 1000 and four Super 750s. Asian Games gold, 2023.
The team. Thomas Cup champions, 2022 — India's first.
The Olympics. Quarter-finals at Paris 2024.
The partnership. Year ten, and intact.
The fit is not exact. Indian tennis had no singles player near the top of the men's game when Paes and Bhupathi ruled doubles. Indian badminton did: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth both reached world No. 1, and Sindhu won a world title. What India never had in badminton was doubles. Satwik and Chirag did for the shuttle game what the original pair did for tennis, which was to make a country of individual stars into a doubles nation the rest of the world had to plan around.
The difference is in what happened next. "You have to trust your partner," Satwik said after Singapore. Ten years in, and after a summer when the partnership effectively ran on one man's shoulder, the trust is the part of the story Paes and Bhupathi could not write.
What comes next
The Asian Games begin in Aichi–Nagoya on 19 September, and the defence will be the most scrutinised event of their season. The Hangzhou gold of 2023 remains India's only badminton gold at the Games; repeating it would make them the first Indians to win the event twice. Chirag framed Shenzhen in those terms. "Obviously, going into the Asian Games, winning a title definitely gives a huge boost," he said. The plan, in his words, is to go home, "push ourselves to the limit, train for the next 10 days and go all guns blazing at the Asian Games." The schedule allows little more: the title in Shenzhen leaves under two weeks to recover, train and travel, with a shoulder that Satwik describes as better on some days than others.
Beyond Nagoya is the one prize neither Indian Express has won together: an Olympic medal. Paes and Bhupathi finished fourth in Athens. Satwik and Chirag went out in the group stage in Tokyo and the quarter-finals in Paris. Los Angeles in 2028 is the next chance, and the shoulder is the variable that will decide how good a chance it is.
For now, the arc of their year is clear enough. The drought ended in Singapore. The doubt, for this summer at least, ended in Shenzhen.
Aichi–Nagoya. The title defence ended in the first round. On 25 September at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, Satwik and Chirag lost to Thailand's Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul, ranked 36th in the world, 21-12, 19-21, 14-21 after winning the first game. India's men's team took bronze, the country's only badminton medal of the Games.
Sourcing and corrections. Built from ISJ's June 2026 deep-research report and Singapore Open carousel and its September China Masters reporting and deck, checked against Outlook India, The Bridge, Khel Now, India TV, Telangana Today, IANS, Olympics.com, National Herald and Wikipedia. The China Masters final scores, pending on the original deck's slide 02 ("dropped / 21–13 / won"), are now confirmed by three outlets as 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 in 70 minutes. The headline plays on Paes and Bhupathi's "Indian Express" nickname and has no connection with the newspaper of that name. Corrected from the decks: the pair first reached world No. 1 on 10 October 2023, not in 2024, and the ten weeks were consecutive weeks to March 2024, not a career total; and the deck line that both pairs reached No. 1 "where India's singles stars fell short" does not hold for badminton (Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth were both world No. 1), so the parallel is framed here as doubles, not singles.
Flag — title count. Contemporary reports call Singapore the ninth World Tour title and Shenzhen the tenth; the 2018 Hyderabad Open (Super 100) would make Shenzhen the eleventh. The China Masters deck's claims of "ten titles" and "won at every tier from Super 100 to Super 1000" cannot both be right. The deck's "21st edition" of the China Masters is dropped: the event began in 2005, but the edition count could not be confirmed.
Flag — conflicting or single-sourced. Olympics.com gives the Paes–Bhupathi Davis Cup streak as 24; Wikipedia gives 23. Game 3 of the China Masters final: Khel Now has the Indians winning the last five points from 16-17, The Bridge from 16-16; Outlook's point-by-point (level at 16-16, then 18-17 after a He net error) fits Khel Now's version and the 21-17 score, so the copy stands. Semi-final: Khel Now and The Bridge give 21-16, 18-21, 21-11 in 66 minutes; Telangana Today has 21-15 and 65 minutes. The March–April withdrawals (Swiss Open, Asia Championships), the opening win over Arif and Kang Khai Xing, the Thailand Open 2019 "first Super 500 by an Indian pair" line and the 2016 pairing account are carried from ISJ's June and September reporting and were not re-checked for this edition. Resolved: Satwik's "you have to trust your partner" is confirmed by The Tribune (1 June 2026). "The mastermind" on the deck's slide 05 was ISJ's own description of Tan Kim Her, not a quotation, and is not used here.
Fact-check corrections (28 October). The second game was described as the Indians winning "ten of the last fifteen points" from 11-7; to 21-13 that is ten of sixteen. The title was said to come "twelve days before" the Asian Games; 6 to 19 September is thirteen.
