Chirag Shetty Wiki, Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Chirag Shetty is an Indian professional badminton player. He is ranked amongst the top 10 doubles played list by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

Wiki/Biography

Chirag Shetty, also known as Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty, was born on Friday, 4 July 1997 (age 25 years; as of 2022) in Mumbai, India. ^[1]Hindustan Times His zodiac sign is Cancer. Chirag Shetty attended Ryan International School, Mumbai, for his primary and secondary education. Chirag got himself enrolled at the Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai for pursuing his higher education. Chirag Shetty started playing badminton at the age of 7, just to keep himself fit and to spend his leisure time. Gradually his interest grew in the sport, and he started practicing it professionally under the mentorship of Manish Hadkar at Goregaon Sports Club. Chirag Shetty had participated in various district level and national level badminton championships  before entering the teenage.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 6′ 1″

Weight (approx.): 62 kg

Eye Colour: Black

Hair Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

Chirag Shetty was born to Chandrashekhar Shetty and Sujata Shetty in a middle-class family in Mumbai, India. Chirag Shetty’s father, Chandrashekhar Shetty, is a Hotelier in Mumbai, and his mother, Sujata Shetty, runs a sports academy at Goregoan Sports Club, Mumbai.

Chirag Shetty has a younger sister, Arya Shetty. Arya is also a professional badminton player.

Career

Chirag Shetty started playing cricket in his leisure time and ended up taking the sport professionally. Chirag began his professional training at the age of 7 under the mentorship of Uday Pawar at Uday Pawar Academy. He participated in several interschool and district-level tournaments during his school days.

Chirag was a very studious guy who had an interest in learning science. But after passing in the 10th standard, he decided to drop science and continue with commerce so as to devote his maximum time and concentration to his practice sessions. Chirag participated in various state-level and national-level badminton events during this period. Later, Chirag Shetty moved to Hyderabad to join the Pullela Gopichand Academy to get himself trained under the Chief National Coach or the Indian national badminton team Pullela Gopichan. Chirag Shetty marked his professional debut in 2013 when he participated in Sushant Chipalkatti Memorial India Junior International Badminton Championship. Next, Chirag along with his doubles partner, Kuhoo, participated in the Tata Open India International Challenge 2013 in a mixed double event; the duo performed well in the tournament but could not make it to the finals. Chirag Shetty won his first-ever international gold medal at the Swiss Junior Open 2014 Men’s Doubles, sharing the honor with M.R Arjun. The duad of Chirag and M.R Arjun became a hit, and they won their second international gold in Yonex Belgian Junior against Scotland journey.

After observing Chirag in various tournaments, his Malaysian coach Tan Kim Her split him from his partner and paired him with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy for Maiden senior national double 2016. Initially, the two did not shared a great bond on-court as well as off-court. Chirag, hailing from Mumbai, and Satwiksairaj, belonging to the small town of Amalapuram in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, shared a vast difference in personalities, and it worked as a barrier for both to get along with each other. Chirag, on being paired with Satwiksairaj, said,

Both of us used to just rush back after playing the shuttle at the net and that was a big problem.”

He further added,

But then the coach spoke to us and explained that Satwik has a very good back-court game and I should try and concentrate on improving my front-court game. Once we started doing that, results started to come.”

Chirag Shetty’s doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy shares their pairing experience as

Earlier we used to stay in different rooms. I used to go out with Telugu people a lot. Then I didn’t like to go out with North Indian guys. He used to eat everything, I used to eat only Indian food. So I used to go alone. Our coach told us to stay together, go out together and now we have become good friends, he knows me well now and I know all about him as well.”

After sorting out all the differences, they emerged as a dynamic duo of Indian badminton. The duo first came into the limelight after winning the Tata Open India International Challenge 2016. The same year, they also won the titles of several international series including Mauritius International, India International Series, Bangladesh International, and Vietnam Open international challenge.

In 2018, Chirag and Satwiksairaj won their first gold medal in the Commonwealth Games at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in a mixed team even hosted in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Chirag Shetty, along with his doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, engraved their name in the history of badminton, becoming the first Indian badminton doubles player to win the Super 500 series title defeating China’s reigning World Champion duo Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the 2019 Thailand Open Doubles.

In 2021, Chirag Shetty and his doubles partner Satwiksairaj got qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and got the opportunity to represent India at the Olympics 2020. Despite making every  possible effort, the duo could not qualify for the knockout stage. Chirag shared a picture on his Instagram account, quoting,

Our reaction says it all – Are we through to the quarterfinals? Well sometimes even after giving your best it’s not enough to guarantee your place in the quarterfinals. When the draws were out we knew we were part of the strongest pool amongst the lot and we needed to be at our best to go past the group stage. Unfortunately for us, it ended up with 3 pairs winning 2 matches each which led to Games Won/Lost being the deciding factor. But that’s how the sport is and we have to live with it.”

Chirag Shetty marked his commercial career in 2019 by participating in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) as a member of the Pune 7 Aces team. Chirag’s participation in the PBL also earned him the opportunity to play with his ideal badminton player, the great Indonesian shuttler Hendra Setiawan. He shared his experience playing with his ideal Hendra Setiawan as,

I saw him win gold at the 2008 Olympics and now I’m playing with him. It’s funny how life pans out.”

He further added,

Also, the calmness that he has on the court is remarkable. It’s something that comes from experience.”

Chirag and Satwiksairaj won the French Open in men’s doubles for the second time on 10 March 2024. They defeated Taiwanese players Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan at the event which was held at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France.

 

Medals

Gold

• 2018: Commonwealth Games, Mixed team, Gold Coast, Australia

• 2023: Asian Games, Men’s Doubles
  

  Chirag Shetty and Rankireddy posing for a photo with their gold medal

• 2024: French Open, Men’s Doubles

Silver

• 2018: Commonwealth Games, Men’s doubles, Gold Coast, Australia

Bronze

• 2016: Asia Team Championships, Men’s team, Hyderabad, India

• 2020: Asia Team Championships, Men’s team, Manila, Philippines

Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tournaments

BWF International Challenge/Series

•  2016: Winner at Mauritius International, Men’s doubles

• 2016: Winner at India International Series, Men’s doubles

• 2016: Winner at Tata Open India International, Men’s doubles

•  2016: Winner at Bangladesh International, Men’s doubles

•  2017: Winner at Vietnam International, Men’s doubles

•  2019: Winner at Brazil International, Men’s doubles

BWF World Tour

•  2018: Winner at Hyderabad Open (Super 100), Men’s doubles

•  2018: Runner-up at Syed Modi International (Super 300), Men’s doubles

•  2019: Winner at Thailand Open (Super 500), Men’s doubles

•  2019: Runner-up at French Open (Super 750), Men’s doubles

• 2023: Doubles winner along with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy at Swiss Open; they defeated China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang 21-19, 24-22, winning their fifth World Tour title.

• 2024: Winner at French Open (Super 750), Men’s doubles

Awards & Honours

Arjuna Award 2020

Chirag Shetty was honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award in a virtual ceremony held on 29 August 2020. The Arjuna Award is presented to sports personalities in India for their outstanding performance in the field of sports by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. Chirag Shetty was honoured with a bronze statuette of Arjuna, a certificate, a ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.  On being honoured with the prestigious award, Chirag expressed his feelings as

I see it as a silver lining in these tough times. It’ll definitely motivate us to win big and work harder to bring back more laurels for the country. Also, I think it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Khel Ratna Award 2023

In December 2023, Chirag Shetty was announced as the recipient of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award; the event was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 9 January 2024.

Favourites

• Badminton player(s): Nikhar Garg, Saina Nehwal

• Athlete: Rafael Nadal

• Food: Pav Bhaji, Kori Roti, Pomfret Fry

• Musician(s)/band(s): Major Lazer, Nucleya

• Games: Temple Run

• Film(s): Bollywood- 2 States, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
                  Hollywood- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Born on the Fourth of July

• TV Shows: Indian- MTV Roadies, Chhote Miyan Dhaakad
                      American- Breaking Bad, Narcos, Friends, Sacred Games

• Cartoon: Shin-chan

• Book: Touch Play – The Prakash Padukone Story

Facts/Trivia

• Chirag Shetty always focused on being a doubles player, but during the initial stage of Chirags’s career, his father was not convinced by the idea of playing a team game. Chirag’s father, in an interview, said,

I did not want him to be playing a team game, because, unlike an individual sport, a lot of factors are involved in getting into a team, including politics. In an individual game, nobody can stop you if you are number one.”

• Chirag Shetty was felicitated by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray on being honored with the Arjuna Award.
  

  Chirag Shetty being felicitated by Uddhav Thackeray

• Chirag Shetty, along with his doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, was nominated for BWF Most Improved Player of the Year awards 2018.
  

  Chirag Shetty is among the nominees of BWF Most Improved player of the year

• Chirag uses the not-so-common Voltric 80 E-tune badminton racket in his tournaments.
  

  Chirag Shetty using a Voltric 80 E-tune badminton racket during a tournament

• Chirag Shetty enjoys doing adventure sports. He often posts pictures of him performing differents adventure sports on his social media account.
  

  Chirag Shetty going Skydiving