Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (born 13 August 2000) is an Indian badminton player. With his doubles partner Chirag Shetty, he has won double bronze medals at the World Championships as well as gold medals at the Asian Games, Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games. Rankireddy and Shetty are the only Indian doubles pair to reach number 1 in the world ranking and win the World Tour Super 1000. They are also the first Indians to win a gold medal at the Asian Games in badminton.
In 2023, Rankireddy achieved a Guinness World Record for the fastest hit in badminton by any player, with his smash reaching a speed of 565 km/h.
Early life Rankireddy was born on 13 August 2000 in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh. He started playing badminton after following in the footsteps of his father, who was a state-level player in the past, as well his elder brother. In 2014, he joined the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad and decided to become a doubles specialist.
Career 2018 In 2018, Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty played a crucial role in earning India the historic gold medal in the Mixed Team event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where they also won the men's doubles silver. They won their first BWF World Tour title in Hyderabad Open after beating the Indonesian pair of Akbar Bintang Cahyono and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani in the final.
2019 In 2019, Rankireddy and Shetty became the first Indian doubles pair to win a BWF Superseries or BWF World Tour (Super 500+) title, when they won the Thailand Open title, beating the Chinese pair of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the final. They followed it up with a runner-up finish at the French Open, where they lost in the final to the Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
2021 In 2021, Rankireddy and Shetty lost to the Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the second round to crash out of the 2020 Yonex Thailand Open. In July, he and Shetty competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but were eliminated in the group stage, following a loss to Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. However, they were the only pair in the entire tournament who defeated eventual gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin, whom they had narrowly beaten in their first group stage encounter. In December, Rankireddy and Shetty qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals for the first time in their career, but withdrew from the tournament after a loss in their first group stage match to the Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
2022 In 2022, Rankireddy and Shetty started the year by winning the India Open. They were also part of India's Thomas Cup winning team. In the final, having lost the first game to the Indonesian duo of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan, they displayed immense perseverance and tenacity to win the second game and close out the third game at 21–19, giving India a 2–0 lead over Indonesia. This was pivotal in helping India bag its maiden Thomas Cup trophy. Rankireddy and Shetty then won the men's doubles gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, beating the home pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the final. At the BWF World Championships, Rankireddy and Shetty won a bronze medal, India's first-ever men's doubles medal at the tournament. They beat defending champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarter-finals, but lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. They then won their first ever BWF World Super 750 title in the French Open by beating Chinese Taipei pair Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han in the finals.
2023 In 2023, Rankireddy and Shetty won their first title as a pair in the Swiss Open, beating the Chinese pair of Ren Xiangyu and Tan Qiang in the final. The duo also crowned as Asian Champion after winning the Asian Championships held in Dubai. The duo won their first BWF World Super 1000 title by defeating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the final of the Indonesia Open, thus becoming the first men's doubles pair from India to win the event. They went on to win Korea Open defeating Indonesian Pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
Rankireddy set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest hit by a male player in badminton, with his smash reaching a speed of 565 km/h. The previous record of 493 km/h was held by Malaysian player Tan Boon Heong, set in May 2013.
2024 Together with Shetty, he reached the final of Super 1000 event of Malaysia Open and lost to the Chinese pair of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. Then they reached another final this year at India Open and again reached finals but lost to the Korean pair of Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae in a tough game. Then they finally achieved success by winning their first tour of this year in Super 750 event of French Open defeating Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan in straight games easily.
2025 The Malaysian Tan Kim Her who identified and paired Rankireddy with Shetty is back as their coach again. In the Malaysia and India Open, they reached the semi-finals.
Awards and nominations +YearAwardCategoryResultRef(s)2018BWF AwardsMost Improved Players20192020Arjuna AwardGood Performance in the Field of Sports2023Khel Ratna AwardSpectacular Performance in the Field of Sports2023BWF AwardsMen's Doubles Pair of the Year2025Times of India Sports AwardsBadminton Player of the Year Male
Achievements World Championships Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2022 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium,Tokyo, Japan Chirag Shetty Aaron Chia Soh Wooi Yik 22–20, 18–21, 16–21 Bronze 2025 Adidas Arena, Paris, France Chirag Shetty Chen Boyang Liu Yi 19–21, 21–18, 12–21 Bronze
Commonwealth Games Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2018 Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre,Gold Coast, Australia Chirag Shetty Marcus Ellis Chris Langridge 13–21, 16–21 Silver 2022 National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England Chirag Shetty Ben Lane Sean Vendy 21–15, 21–13 Gold
Asian Games Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2022 Binjiang Gymnasium, Hangzhou, China Chirag Shetty Choi Sol-gyu Kim Won-ho 21–18, 21–16 Gold
Asian Championships Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2023 Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall,Dubai, United Arab Emirates Chirag Shetty Ong Yew Sin Teo Ee Yi 16–21, 21–17, 21–19 Gold
World Tour (11 titles, 8 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result 2018 Hyderabad Open Super 100 Chirag Shetty Akbar Bintang Cahyono Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani 21–16, 21–14 Winner 2018 Syed Modi International Super 300 Chirag Shetty Fajar Alfian Muhammad Rian Ardianto 11–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2019 Thailand Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Li Junhui Liu Yuchen 21–19, 18–21, 21–18 Winner 2019 French Open Super 750 Chirag Shetty Marcus Fernaldi Gideon Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2022 India Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Mohammad Ahsan Hendra Setiawan 21–16, 26–24 Winner 2022 French Open Super 750 Chirag Shetty Lu Ching-yao Yang Po-han 21–13, 21–19 Winner 2023 Swiss Open Super 300 Chirag Shetty Ren Xiangyu Tan Qiang 21–19, 24–22 Winner 2023 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Chirag Shetty Aaron Chia Soh Wooi Yik 21–17, 21–18 Winner 2023 Korea Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Fajar Alfian Muhammad Rian Ardianto 17–21, 21–13, 21–14 Winner 2023 China Masters Super 750 Chirag Shetty Liang Weikeng Wang Chang 19–21, 21–18, 19–21 Runner-up 2024 Malaysia Open Super 1000 Chirag Shetty Liang Weikeng Wang Chang 21–9, 18–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2024 India Open Super 750 Chirag Shetty Kang Min-hyuk Seo Seung-jae 21–15, 11–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2024 French Open Super 750 Chirag Shetty Lee Jhe-huei Yang Po-hsuan 21–11, 21–17 Winner 2024 Thailand Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Chen Boyang Liu Yi 21–15, 21–15 Winner 2025 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Liang Weikeng Wang Chang 21–19, 14–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2025 China Masters Super 750 Chirag Shetty Kim Won-ho Seo Seung-jae 19–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2026 Thailand Open Super 500 Chirag Shetty Leo Rolly Carnando Daniel Marthin 12–21, 23–25 Runner-up 2026 Singapore Open Super 750 Chirag Shetty Fajar Alfian Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 18–21, 21–17, 21–16 Winner 2026 China Masters Super 750 Chirag Shetty He Jiting Ren Xiangyu 11–21, 21–13, 21–17 Winner
International Challenge / Series (10 titles) Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2016 Mauritius International Chirag Shetty Dhruv Kapila Saurabh Sharma 21–12, 21–16 Winner 2016 India International Series Chirag Shetty Goh Sze Fei Nur Izzuddin 8–11, 11–5, 7–11, 11–8, 11–5 Winner 2016 Tata Open India International Chirag Shetty Arjun M.R. Ramchandran Shlok 10–12, 11–9, 11–7, 11–5 Winner 2016 Bangladesh International Chirag Shetty M. Anilkumar Raju Venkat Gaurav Prasad 17–21, 21–7, 21–8 Winner 2017 Vietnam International Chirag Shetty Trawut Potieng Nanthakarn Yordphaisong 17–21, 21–9, 21–15 Winner 2019 Brazil International Chirag Shetty Jelle Maas Robin Tabeling 21–14, 21–18 Winner
Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2015 Tata Open India International K. Maneesha Arun Vishnu Aparna Balan 21–13, 21–16 Winner 2016 Mauritius International K. Maneesha Yogendran Khrishnan Prajakta Sawant 21–19, 11–21, 21–17 Winner 2016 India International Series K. Maneesha Low Hang Yee Cheah Yee See 5–11, 11–8, 12–10, 11–8 Winner 2016 Bangladesh International K. Maneesha Tanupat Viriyangkura Thanyasuda Wongya 21–12, 21–12 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament
Junior International (1 title, 1 runner-up) Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2014 India Junior International Krishna Prasad Garaga Arjun M. R. Chirag Shetty 7–11, 10–11, 6-11 Runner-up 2015 India Junior International Krishna Prasad Garaga W Sarapat Panachai Worasaktayanan 21–15, 21–17 Winner
BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament BWF Junior International Challenge tournament BWF Junior International Series tournament BWF Junior Future Series tournament
Performance timeline
National team Junior level Team events 2015 2016 World Junior Championships 9th QF
Senior level Team events 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Asia Team Championships B NH QF NH B NH A NH QF NH QF Asia Mixed Team Championships NH QF NH A NH A NH QF NH Asian Games NH QF NH S NH B Commonwealth Games NH G NH S NH Thomas Cup RR NH A NH QF NH G NH QF NH B Sudirman Cup NH QF NH RR NH RR NH RR NH A NH
Individual competitions Junior level Boys' doubles Events 2015 2016 World Junior Championships 3R 4R Mixed doubles Events 2015 2016 World Junior Championships 2R QF
Senior level Events 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Asian Championships A NH QF G A Asian Games NH 2R NH G NH 1R Commonwealth Games NH S NH G NH World Championships 1R 2R A NH 3R B QF NH B QF Olympic Games NH RR NH QF NH