New Delhi: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty must improve their fitness levels for a shot at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals title, reckons India’s doubles coach Tan Kim Her after their bronze-medal finish at the World Championships.
The World No. 9 duo beat Malaysia’s two-time Olympic medallists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarter-finals to confirm a medal but lost to China’s 11th seeds Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the semis to be stopped from becoming India’s first doubles pair to enter the title round.
Tan said he expected the pair to reach the final but emphasised on the progress they have made in recent times, while pointing out that there is scope for improvement, particularly in the final stretch of deciders.
“We still need to improve physically. After beating the Chinese pair (Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang) earlier and others, I could see both of them were a little tired, though they still managed. But I think they can be fitter, especially for the last stretch of deciding games,” the 53-year-old told PTI.
“Overall, I would say this was their best performance, especially against China and Malaysia. Now, hopefully everything stays okay, and my next target for them is the Super Series Finals. Of course, there are other tournaments coming up, but our main focus is the Super Series Finals.
“…they have been playing quite well from day one till yesterday. This year we have made at least four to five semifinals, though we haven’t reached any finals yet.
“The progress is there, everything is okay. Only thing is, we missed this opportunity yesterday. But I still give credit to the boys, they did well.”
Creator of Satwik-Chirag pair
Back in India for the second time, Tan paired Satwik and Chirag during his first stint between 2015 and 2019, and since they have become a force in men’s doubles.
In his second innings, Tan wants to take them a notch higher needed to win big tournaments like the All England, World Championships, Asian Games, Olympics, specially after their struggles with injuries, poor form and personal loss culminating in a disappointing Paris Olympics campaign.
“I’m back in India after five and a half years, I was not with the players all this time but they have been progressing quite well. They won the Asian Games, followed by a few Open tournaments,” Tan said.
“Then, right after the Olympics, they suffered a very bad injury. So, when I took over, I felt I had to start by analysing and understanding them first before I could set my programme.
“I was quite worried about their injuries because we can see now that both of them get injured quite often. Just before England, Chirag got injured. Now Satwik is okay, and both of them are doing fine,” the Malaysian added.
“So I had to control the volume in training, sometimes give them breaks in between so that their bodies can recover. I also work very closely with the trainer, especially in the gym, and with the physios to manage these small issues.”