Even after they became the first Indian shuttlers in 58 years to be crowned Asian champions last month, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were not satisfied. They were still hungry and dreamed of beating Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. In eight previous meetings the top Indian doubles combine had never been able to beat the world champions. They came close four times when they took the Malaysians the full distance but each time Chia and Yik did that extra bit in their defense to beat Rankireddy and Shetty.

Not on Sunday. After they were unable to beat the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalists in six years, the world No.6 Indians finally found a way past them. That too at one of the grandest stages in badminton as Rankireddy and Shetty beat the Malaysian combine 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes to win the $1.25 million Indonesia Open at the iconic and loud Istora Senayan arena in Jakarta.

“In the earlier eight matches against them we would hold ourselves back, but today we stuck to the plan right till the end and never really gave them a chance to come back. We felt they are humans, they are players, and they will also make mistakes,” said Shetty, 25.