CWG 2022: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy aims to live up to expectations of fans

Ahead of Commonwealth Games 2022, India Shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy said that he is looking to go all in and live up to the expectations of the fans and country. The Indian badminton contingent arrived at Birmingham on Monday for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

"Always special to play CWG, Asian Games, Olympics. It's like a different feeling. We get the chance to meet other athletes as well. So, we are really excited, it is a big tournament of the year and we want to go all in," Satwiksairaj Rankireddy told ANI. Satwiksairaj will be participating in the men's doubles category with his partner Chirag Shetty.

"There are a lot of people watching badminton and they expect a lot of medals this time as we did well in the 2018 gold coast. Everyone is in good shape, we'll live their expectations and do well like the last time," said Satwiksairaj. India won the last edition of the Thomas Cup defeating the 14-time champions Indonesia so the expectations from the Indian contingent will be high this time as well.

"Team events are always special as we did well in the Thomas cup, we know how to carry on that spirit and everyone is boosted up, Srikant, Laksh were in the same Thomas cup team, Sumit adjusts well with us. We're in the same mode as we played Thomas cup last time and we will be looking to repeat the performance as we won the gold medal," said Satwiksairaj. "It is gonna be tough and a lot of people expect a gold from us. Definitely, we'll go all in and see what happens" he added.

The Indian shuttler also shared his thoughts about the new expectations from the doubles event this time. "It is a special feeling, we wanted that special attention. There are always good single players and we wanted to change that so I chose doubles. Wanted to change that thing and show that doubles players can do well and get medals for the team as well," he said.

"Hopefully we did some good thing for India, and hopefully it's not done and hopefully we do much much better and do well in this," the Indian shuttler added. In CWG 2022, the Indian badminton contingent is being led by two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu, who recently won the Singapore Open after defeating Chinese Zhi Yi Wang in the summit clash. Apart from her, the Indian women's team consists of Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P and Ashwini Ponappa.

The Indian men's badminton team features Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, B Sumeeth Reddy and the doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Team India clinched a total of six medals in CWG 2018, which was held in Australia. Out of which, two were gold, three were silver, and one was bronze. Sindhu had won the silver medal after losing to her compatriot Saina Nehwal in the finals.

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 is being held from July 28 to August 8. (ANI)

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