World No.1 men’s doubles pair Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy surpassed former women’s singles No.1 Saina Nehwal’s record for spending the most number of weeks in pole position in the BWF world ranking by an Indian.
The prolific Indian pair climbed to the top spot in the BWF World Rankings on January 23 this year after reaching the finals in the China Masters, Malaysia Open, and India Open. The ‘Brothers of Destruction’ further consolidated their top spot by winning the men’s doubles title in the French Open in March. The No.1 men’s doubles pair has been on the top spot for 10 weeks now.
The London 2012 bronze medallist rose to the No.1 ranking on August 18, 2015, and remained there till October 15, 2015. Her position at the top lasted for nine weeks.
Chirag and Satwik currently have 1,02,303 points on the leaderboard, which puts them 5,000 points clear of the second-placed Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae from the Republic of Korea.
The duo became the first Indian doubles pair to rise to the No.1 ranking after clinching the top podium spot at the Asian Games. Incidentally, they could maintain their top spot only for three weeks.