A day after Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal were felicitated by the Maharashtra government for winning the T20 World Cup, Chirag Shetty criticized the authorities for neglecting badminton.
Chirag, one of the key players in India’s historic 2022 Thomas Cup victory, expressed his frustration over the state government’s lack of recognition for his achievements after the Indian badminton team won the prestigious championship, defeating Indonesia 3-0 in Bangkok.
“Thomas Cup is equivalent to winning the World Cup. I was part of the Indian badminton team which won its maiden title, shocking champions Indonesia in the final. I was the only Maharashtra player in the Indian team. When the government can honour World Cup-winning cricket stars, they should have also recognised my efforts. The government should treat any other sport equally,” Chirag said.
Chirag, who is training for the Paris Olympics with his doubles partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy at the national camp in Hyderabad under experienced Danish coach Mathias Boe, clarified that he harbors no ill will towards cricket or cricketers.
“I have nothing against cricket. In fact, we all badminton players watched the T20 World Cup final live on TV and celebrated enthusiastically. We are happy and proud about their sensational win against South Africa in the final. Similarly, we had also achieved something remarkable a couple of years ago, but the state government did not even felicitate me, leave apart giving any cash rewards. Before 2022, the Indian badminton team had never even reached the semifinals, but we created history by winning the title,” said the 27-year-old, a recipient of the Khel Ratna Award.
On Friday, the Maharashtra government announced a cash prize of Rs 11 crore for the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team. Chirag and Satwik were the first Indian men’s doubles pair to reach the world No. 1 ranking a few months ago. The ace duo has been instrumental in leading the Indian badminton team to several memorable victories at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and Olympics, in addition to winning numerous BWF World Tour titles.
