Promising Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the USD 20,000 Vietnam Open International challenger after defeating Thai pair of Trawut Potieng and Nanthakam Yordphaisong in a thrilling final.
The sixth seeded Indian pair of Satwik and Chirag notched up a 17-21 21-9 21-15 win over fifth seeds Potieng and Yordphaisong in a summit clash that lasted 50 minutes at Honoi yesterday.
"It is a great victory for Satwik and Chirag. They have done well ever since we decided to pair them up. They did well even at PBL and also at the Syed Modi tournament in Lucknow. Both of them are young and hopefully in a few years, they can become one of the top Indian pairs," Gopichand told PTI.
"Satwik has great shuttle speed. His height and the angle at which his racquet comes down helps him to generate pace. Bot of them combine well."
The Indian duo had stunned second seeds Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Markis Kido 16-21 21-11 21-18 in the semifinals on Saturday.
For the young Indian pair it was their maiden title this season, while fifth victory overall. They had won the Mauritius International Series, the India International Series, the India International Challenge and the Bangladesh International Challenge last season.
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Speaking after the final, Satwiksairaj said, "We could not find our rhythm initially during our first match in the tournament, but we settled well in the matches that followed. The build up to the final was exciting, with arguably our biggest career win coming in the semifinal.
"We had confidence in ourselves right from the start. Although we made a few mistakes in the first game then, we worked on reducing them and quickly found our feet. We are really happy to have won the final as well and this is an important title for us."
The Indian duo began the season by clinching their maiden doubles title at the Senior Nationals in Patna. Currently ranked 57 in the world, they will next compete at the Indian Super Series, Malaysia Superseries, Singapore Open and the China Masters in April.
