Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Wiki, Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

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

Wiki/Biography

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Satwik Sai Raj Rankireddy) was born on Sunday, 13 August 2000 (age 23 years; as of 2023) in the small town of Amalapuram in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. His zodiac sign is Leo. Satwiksairaj attended Aditya Public School, Amalapuram for his primary education and Chaitanya High School, Amalapuram for his secondary education. He is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in commerce from Andhra Univers­i­ty through distance education. Satwiksairaj started playing badminton at the age of 6, after watching his father and brother playing badminton; both his father and brother have played badminton professionally. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had participated in various district level and national level badminton championships before entering his teenage.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 11″

Weight (approx.): 75 kg

Eye Colour: Black

Hair Colour: Black

Family

Parents & Siblings

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was born to Vishwanadham Rankireddy and Rangamani, in a middle-class family of Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh. Satwiksairaj’s father, Vishwanadham Rankireddy, is a former state-level badminton player and a retired physical education teacher from a local government school. Satwiksairaj’s mother, Rangamani, is a teacher in Janupalli ZP High School near Amalapuram in East Godavari of the State.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy has an elder brother Ramcharan Rankireddy, who is also a professional badminton player.

Career

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was born into a family of badminton players and grew up watching them practise and play badminton professionally. Satwiksairaj used to skip school and go along with his father to play badminton, that is when he developed his interest in badminton. At the age of 6, Satwiksairaj began practising badminton at the Officer’s Club in Amalapuram, where he and his elder brother were trained by their father. Satwiksairaj participated in various club events and state-level championships under the mentorship of his father. At the age of 11, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won his first district-level tournament in the U-13 category in a men’s doubles event held in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh. Later in 2014, Satwiksairaj joined the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad to train under the national coach Pullela Gopichand. Satwiksairaj practised for both, singles and doubles, events and won medals in various national and international tournaments under coach Gopichand’s guidance. Satwiksairaj won his first international gold medal in the U-17 boys’ doubles at the Asian Junior Badminton Championship 2015 along with his doubles’ partner Krishna Prasad. In the same year, he also won his first senior international title at the Tata Open India International 2015 with his mixed doubles partner Kullapalli Maneesha.

Next, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy participated in the International Challenge Series at the Mauritius International, India International Series, Tata Open India International, and Bangladesh International, all in 2016, achieving success in 4 doubles titles and 3 mixed doubles titles. After examining Satwiksairaj’s performances in several tournaments, his international coach Kim Tan Her decided to pair him up with Chirag Shetty, which later emerged as a dynamic duo of Indian badminton. Initially, Satwiksairaj and Chirag were not that satisfied with being paired with each other. Satwiksairaj  in an interview said,

When I used to play with Krishna (Prasad) there was good understanding and communication between both of us but when I partnered with Chirag, there was so much misunderstanding as to who will play front who will play at the back, there was a lot of communication problem.”

He further added,

We also started staying in one room. 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.”

The dynamic duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty first appeared in the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championships (2017) held in Pune, where they ended up as runner-up in the doubles event. They first came into the limelight after winning the Gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in a mixed team even hosted in the Gold Coast, Australia. The duo also won a silver medal in the men’s doubles event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

In 2019, Satwiksairaj along with Chirag Shetty became the first Indian badminton doubles player to win the Super 500 series title, defeating China’s reigning World Champion duo Li Junhui and Liu Yuchenand winning the Thailand Open Doubles title.

In 2021, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy along with his doubles partner Chirag Shetty qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The duo received a ton of congratulatory messages from all across the nation. Andhra Pradesh’s CM, Shri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, felicitated Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics and also granted him a cash prize of Rs. 5 Lakhs to prepare for the upcoming Olympic games.

Satwiksairaj won the French Open in men’s doubles for the second time along with Chirag 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

•  2016: Mauritius International, Men’s Doubles, Mauritius

• 2016: India International Series, Men’s Doubles, India

• 2016: Tata Open India International, Men’s Doubles, India

• 2016: Bangladesh International, Men’s Doubles, Dhaka, Bangladesh

• 2016: Mauritius International, Mixed Doubles, Mauritius

• 2016: India International Series, Mixed Doubles, India

• 2016: Bangladesh International, Mixed Doubles, Dhaka, Bangladesh

• 2018: Commonwealth Games, Men’s Doubles, 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, Mixed Team, Gold Coast, Australia

Bronze

• 2016: Badminton Asia Championship, Mixed Team, China

• 2020: Badminton Asia Championship, Men’s Team, Manila

Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tournaments

BWF International Challenge tournament

• 2015: Winner at Tata Open India International, Mixed doubles

• 2016: Winner at Bangladesh International, Mixed 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 International Series tournament

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

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

• 2016: Winner at Mauritius International, Mixed doubles

• 2016:Winner at India International Series, Mixed doubles

BWF Future Series tournament

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

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

• 2018: Winner at Thailand Open (Super 500), Men’s doubles

• 2018: Winner at French Open (Super 750), Men’s doubles

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

Swiss Open

• 2023: Doubles winner along with Chirag Shetty, defeating China’s Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang 21-19, 24-22

Awards & Honours

Arjuna Award 2020

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award in a virtual ceremony held on 29 August 2020. Arjun Award is presented to athletes for their outstanding performance in the field of Sports and Games. The awardees are honoured with a bronze statuette of Arjuna, a certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh. 

Khel Ratna Award 2023

Satwiksairaj was announced as the recipient of the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in December 2023; the ceremony was held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 9 January 2024.

Favourites

• Badminton Players: P. V. Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi

• Cuisine: South Indian

• Food: Chicken Biryani

• Athlete: Roger Federer

• Actor: Prabhas

Facts/Trivia

• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was nominated for BWF Most Improved player of the year awards 2018.
  

  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is among the nominees of BWF Most Improved player of the year

• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy along with Chirag Shetty is ranked at the 10th position according to the Badminton World Federation ranking.
  

  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking

• In 2017, Satwiksairaj marked his debut in the Premier Badminton League with the team Hyderabad Hunters, which was also the winning team of that season.
  

  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy with his team at the PBL

•  He is a regular practitioner of yoga and often posts pictures doing yoga with his mother on his social media account.
  

  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy practising yoga with his mother

• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy follows a non-vegetarian diet. ^[1]The Indian Express

• Satwiksairaj’s long time dream is to own a luxury car.

• In July 2023, Satwik achieved a remarkable feat at the Korea Open by breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest smash in the sport by a male player. His incredible smash reached an astonishing speed of 565 km/h, surpassing the previous record set by Malaysian player Tan Boon Heong in May 2013, who had a smash speed of 493 km/h. Notably, Satwik’s smash even exceeded the top speed of 372.6 km/h achieved by a Formula 1 car. ^[2]India Today