Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is an Indian professional badminton player who had scripted history in May 2022 as an integral member of the Indian squad that had won the ‘Gold’ medal at the Thomas Cup (an international biennial badminton competition among men’s teams representing member nations of the BWF (Badminton World Federation), the sport’s global governing body) for the 1st time in history. India had become just the 6th country to lift the prestigious title after Indonesia (14 titles), China (10), Malaysia (5), Denmark (1), and Japan (1). Representing India, he had also clinched the ‘Gold’ medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the mixed team event; the ‘Silver’ medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the men’s doubles event; and the ‘Bronze’ medal in the men’s team event at the 2016 Hyderabad Badminton Asia Team Championships as well as the 2020 Manila Badminton Asia Team Championships. In November 2019, he had reached his peak world number 7 position in the official BWF men’s doubles rankings. He had regained that peak in March 2022. He is also highly adept in the mixed doubles format where he had achieved a peak world ranking of 19 in February 2021. For his services to the sport, the Government of India honored him with the Arjuna Award (the 2nd-highest sporting honor in India) in 2020.

Born Name

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Nick Name

Satwik, Sai

Sun Sign

Leo

Born Place

Amalapuram, Konaseema, Andhra Pradesh, India

Residence

Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Nationality

Education

Satwiksairaj had attended the Aditya Public School and the Chaitanya High School, both in his hometown of Amalapuram.

After his high school graduation, he had joined the School of Distance Education, a department of the Andhra University, a public university in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to pursue a B.Com. (Bachelor of Commerce) degree.

Occupation

Professional Badminton Player

Family

• Father – Rankireddy Kasi Viswanath (Former State-Level Badminton Player, Former Physical Education Teacher)
• Mother – Rangamani (Teacher)
• Siblings – Ramcharan Rankireddy (Older Brother) (Badminton Player)

Manager

He is represented by G S Venus Kumar, Manager and Booking Agent, GoBadminton, Athlete Management Agency, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Plays

Right-Handed

Build

Athletic

Height

6 ft or 183 cm

Weight

77 kg or 170 lbs

Race / Ethnicity

Asian (Indian)

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Toned physique
• Short-cropped, side-parted hair
• Affable smile
• Sports a thick beard

Religion

Hinduism

Brand Endorsements

Satwiksairaj has been sponsored by Indian Oil Corporation Limited, an Indian government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Facts

1. Satwiksairaj got inspired to play the sport by watching his father who was a state-level badminton player.
2. He and his long-term men’s doubles partner, Chirag Shetty, are the first men’s doubles pair from India to be ranked inside the ‘Top 10’ of official BWF men’s doubles rankings. Their pairing is affectionately called ‘SatChi’ by fans.
3. In 2019, the duo had become the first Indian doubles pair to win a BWF Superseries or BWF World Tour (Super 500+) title, when they won the Thailand Open.
4. As of May 2022, he and Chirag, as a pair, had won 3 titles – the 2018 Hyderabad Open (Super 100), the 2019 Thailand Open (Super 500), and the 2022 India Open (Super 500) – on the BWF World Tour, a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the BWF. On this level, the pair had also finished as runners-up at the 2018 Syed Modi International (Super 300) and the 2019 French Open (Super 750) events.
5. On the BWF International Challenge/Series tier, this pair, as of May 2022, had won 6 titles – the 2016 Mauritius International, the 2016 India International Series, the 2016 Tata Open India International, the 2016 Bangladesh International, the 2017 Vietnam International, and the 2019 Brazil International.
6. In this tier, he had also won 4 titles in the mixed doubles format – the 2015 Tata Open India International, the 2016 Mauritius International, the 2016 India International Series, and the 2016 Bangladesh International – all in partnership with K. Maneesha.
7. In July 2021, when the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics were held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Satwiksairaj and Chirag were eliminated in the group stage. However, they were the only pair in the entire tournament to have defeated the eventual ‘Gold’ medalist Taiwanese pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin.
8. In December 2021, they qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals (the year-ending final tournament of the BWF World Tour) for the first time in their careers. However, the pair had withdrawn from the tournament after a loss in their first group stage match.
9. In May 2022, during the group stage of the Thomas Cup, they had won their doubles match against both Germany and Canada as India went on to sweep both those rubbers by a margin of 5-0. In India’s last group stage match, against Taiwan (competing under the name ‘Chinese Taipei’), they had lost their doubles match against the aforementioned pair of Yang and Chi-lin as India slipped to a 3-2 defeat to finish the group stage in the 2nd position.
10. In the quarter-final of the tournament, against 5-time champions, Malaysia, Satwiksairaj & Chirag had won their doubles match by a score of 21-19, 21-15 to bring India level at 1-1 in the 5-match rubber. India went on to win the 3rd and 5th matches of the rubber (both singles) to prevail by a 3-2 margin.
11. In the semi-final, against former champions Denmark, the script was identical, with India losing the first singles match, then parity being restored by Satwiksairaj & Chirag, and then India winning the 3rd and 5th matches of the rubber to win by a 3-2 margin. The only difference was that in all 3 of India’s wins in this rubber, the match was stretched to 3 sets compared to the straight-sets wins against Malaysia.
12. In the final of the 2022 Thomas Cup, against hot favorites and 14-time champions Indonesia, India, for a change, and rather surprisingly, won the opening singles match to lead the rubber by 1-0. The advantage was driven home by Satwiksairaj & Chirag who won their doubles match by a score of 18-21, 23-21, 21-19, in a nail-biting encounter. Srikanth Kidambi then won his singles match in straight sets to secure a 3-0 win and script a golden chapter in the annals of Indian sporting history.
13. In June 2023, the pair of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty created history by winning India’s first-ever gold medal in men’s doubles in the history of the Indonesia Open. It was also India’s first gold in any doubles category in Indonesia Open.
14. In July 2023, Satwiksairaj broke the record for the fastest badminton hit by a male with a 565 kmph smash. He had reportedly attempted the world record in Japan on April 14, 2023.
15. In January 2024, Satwiksairaj was honored with the Khel Ratna Award.

Featured Image by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Instagram