World number ten doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been on top of their game and the duo would be expected to perform to the best of their ability in order to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The duo was recently knocked out from the All England Open in the second round and they would next be seen in the India Open which will be played in New Delhi behind closed doors this May.
India Open 2021 will be conducted behind closed doors at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi from May 11-16. The tournament, which is also an Olympic qualifier event, has attracted 228 (114 men and 114 women) entries from 33 different national associations including China.
Chirag Shetty believes that if the duo wants to return with a medal from the Olympics, then they need to have a sort-out plan B as sometimes plan A does not work out.
"We started off the year playing tournaments, we have played a pre-quarterfinal and a semi-final in the second tournament. Playing after a year, we had some good matches in Thailand, although we lost in the second match of our first tournament, we played a very close game against the world number two and also in the second tournament, we beat some really good players to make the semi-final. We would have loved to play the finals, but I think overall it was a good tournament.
"After that, we had one good month of practice, I think we would like to play a new trend of the game and we may not have played our best but we played a game which was a lot more tactical and it was kind of different to us. If we really need to go for a shot at the medal in Olympics, we need to have a Plan B as well because we need to focus on our Plan B if our plan A is not working," said Shetty while replying to an query during a virtual press conference.
When asked whether the duo would like to get vaccinated as soon as possible, Shetty said: "We definitely want to get vaccinated with the Covid-19 second wave coming. If and when the government gives us the approval, we definitely will take the vaccine."
Earlier this year, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) roped in Mathias Boe of Denmark to train them in the run-up to the Olympics.
Sharing his thoughts on the coaching style of Olympic silver medalist Boe, Rankireddy said: "Definitely, all the juniors are playing really good. There are a lot of changes from the new coach, we have a European style now, we no longer have the Asian style. It has been little difficult for us to change our style of play but a lot of positive things to take on."
( With inputs from ANI )
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