Satwiksairaj makes world record, smashes fastest hit by male Badminton player in history

Indian badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated the Thai pair Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren in the first round of the Korea Open 2023. The world number 3 won the match with a scoreline of 21-16 21-14 and will face China's He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong in the next round. Satwik and Chirag last won the Indonesia Open in June 2023 and made the whole country proud. The Indian duo also won the Badminton Asian Championships for the first time after a gap of 58 years. Now one member of the team has made another smashing record. 

3 things you need to know 

• Indian Badminton duo of Satwik and Chirag have been steadily climbing the ranks in the international Badminton circuit
• Their consistent performance has forced them to be reckoned on the global stage 
• The Indian duo will also eye a gold medal in the Asian Games 2023 

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Satwik makes Guinness World Record by smashing the fastest Badminton shot 

(Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in action during a Badminton match / Image: AP) 

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made the Guinness World Record for smashing the fastest hit by a male Badminton player in the history of the sport. Rankireddy played a shot during their first match at the Korea Open 2023 that recorded a speed of 565 km/h. Before Satwik broke a decade-old record of Malaysian shutler Tan Boon Heong who had earlier played a smash that recorded a speed of 493 km/h. 

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's record-breaking smash was conducted in a controlled environment at the Yonex factory gymnasium in Soka, Saitama in Japan. Interestingly, Satwik's record-breaking smash was more than the top speed of a Formula 1 car which is 372.6 km/h. 

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Yonex said in a press release: 

Yonex is proud to announce that Yonex badminton athletes, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND) and Tan Pearly (MAS), have set new Guinness world records title for the fastest male and female badminton hits. 

Since the previous Guinness world records title for the fastest badminton hit was recorded in May 2013, this means that Rankireddy broke the record for the first time in more than a decade

Apart from Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Malaysian female shutler Tan Pearly set the Guinness World Record for the fastest Badminton hit by a female player. Pearly recorded a speed of  438 km/h and made the world record.