It's the year of the Paris Olympics, where the world's best will vie for sporting immortality. ESPN India profiles the Indian athletes most likely to be successful in that quest, beginning with badminton doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
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If 2022 was the year when Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached badminton's top-most levels, 2023 was the year they established themselves there with success no Indian players had achieved: the first to win a BWF World Tour Super 1000 title, gold medals at the Asian Games and Asian Championships, and climbing up to world No 1 in the men's doubles rankings.
All that, though, would pale in comparison this year if they win an Olympic medal in Paris. It's easy to overstate past performances in an Olympic year but on form and for the reasons mentioned above, they are among the early podium favourites.
The good news is, while the expectations have increased, so have their ambitions. The two have always believed they are up there with the best in the world and are set for whatever 2024 throws at them.
"When we are hungry, we are winning the tournament," Satwik tells ESPN in a pre-season interaction. "Winning a medal at the Olympics is the ultimate target [for 2024]," Chirag adds.
That word 'hungry' is key here: if there's been one defining change in their overall game over the past few years, it's their mental toughness. Satwik and Chirag know the value of their mindset and they use it well to back their attacking game style and on-court energy.
"In 2022 we played with our physical ability, in 2023 we played more mental," Satwik explains. "We became better at mind games. Every tournament we played with that [hungry and fit] mindset, we either played finals or reached the semis. So, 2023 was more about mindset."
The younger in the Sat-Chi partnership at 23, Satwik is almost philosophical when talking about this. "I think who wants to win more or who is hungrier, will win. If there is a huge gap, then the mindset will be different, when we are entering the court and you know you can beat them, then the mindset will be different. This comes with preparation."
Hunger and preparation are those uniquely intangible but visible qualities that motivates elite athletes and sets the champions apart from the good players. As they said, Satwik and Chirag already have this, it's only a question of continuing to build on it.
Of course, the increased expectations do add to the pressure. But Satwik and Chirag come from the school of thought that believes that pressure is a privilege, as so eloquently put by Billie Jean King.
"It [the world No 1, Khel Ratna] is not a new pressure, the pressure has always been there. I think we have grown over it and also sort of embraced it by now," says Chirag.
"Sometimes, we feel like when there is a lot of expectation, we play well. We need some pressure also. We handle pressure better compared to others; we got that confidence from the Thomas Cup. Everything started from the Thomas Cup," adds Satwik.
Their near-perfect final record, a 6-match streak from 2022 that ended in their last tournament of 2023, is proof of this mindset.
"We both want to win so I can sense that opponents are also under more pressure than us. When we play finals or crucial matches, we keep it very simple, we don't think too much. Jayenge, khul ke khelenge, enjoy karke full josh me khelenge [we will go, play freely, enjoy and be full of energy], whatever will happen will happen. That's our motto in pressure situations."
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"It was a mixed year," Satwik says of the season gone by. "In the first half we didn't play that well, but in the second half we did better, we stepped up in the main tournaments. We wanted to be in the Top 3 but we didn't expect to be No 1, it was special after losing in the first rounds [of the Asian swing]."
"I don't think we ticked every single box, but we have ticked quite a few boxes that we had set out to achieve,' he says. Chirag adds, "Winning a medal at the Asian Games was one of the targets and winning the gold is the best, playing the finals in the team event was also quite special."
Of course, there were blips as well, injuries and inconsistency on the tour being the main.
An injury to Satwik forced them to withdraw from the India Open as defending champions; it took him the first half of the season to completely recover. It wasn't easy going after that either, with a mid-match retirement soon after and Satwik admitting that he was less than 100% at the Asian Games either.
"After my injury it took me almost 6 weeks to get back. I got some time to recover, and this helped me understand my body better -- when to stop and take rest, how to focus on recovery. I changed my training schedule as well, discussed the areas I wanted to work on with my trainer," he says.
This led to more detailed calendar management, as was evidenced by them not making the cut for the season-ending BWF World Tour finals where the top 8 of the year compete. But even in spurts, they did enough to be among the best.
Chirag adds to that, "We are lot more consistent now. We've improved our defence quite a bit this year, we don't rely purely on attack. I wouldn't say it's 50-50 yet but at least 70-30 at this point and I think that's one thing we can easily say has changed in this past year."
It's a transition that has come both via more experience at the highest level and the need to economise and diversify in a gruelling sport. And it's partly what has made 2023 so successful despite setbacks.
That the rise in the second half came once the Olympic qualification cycle has begun in May, is an encouraging sign. They are currently second in the world and are fifth in the road to Paris rankings. The final months of the cycle also marks the start of the new season, an important one for more than just the Olympics. They start the 2024 season with the Malaysian Open Super 1000 in the second week of January, followed by the home tournament - India Open Super 750 in New Delhi.
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"When we are on court, we have to be 100%. We focussed only on two tournaments at a time and give 100%. We can't play continuously for two weeks at the same pace with our attacking style. Once I am in the injury prone area, we take a break. That's how we managed the second half," Satwik says.
Physical fitness is the biggest factor as they gear up for a long, loaded 2024 season. The rest, as Satwik puts it, they already have.
"The focus is on getting the body in correct shape because the next 6 months are crucial. We want to be healthy going into the Olympics. The mindset is there, everything is in our hands... We have a coach who plans really well, our trainers, physios everything is there in place right now," Satwik says. "We don't have to think so much and mess it up, we just want to keep it simple."
The inevitable question - what the new year's goals are - is almost redundant in an Olympic year to players who have achieved this much. Yet, it's one that indicates an athlete's temperament.
Last year, for example, there was a playful remark on wanting to beat the pairs who they had blank records against. Satwik and Chirag ended up beating perennial nemeses Soh Wooi Yik and Aaron Chia for two of their biggest titles of the year, making the record 8-2.
This year it's a proper shot at the Olympics, which is almost a sore spot after their Tokyo heartbreak. (They won 2 out of 3 group games, even beating the eventual champions, but exited on a three-way tie technicality.)
"Winning a medal at the Olympics is obviously the ultimate target for next year. Other than that there are a couple of Super 1000s we haven't medalled at, the All England is one major tournament we have not played a final yet. And the Thomas Cup too, we will be going in as the defending champions and hopefully we will be able to play the same way we did a year back or at least come back with a medal," Chirag says.
Winning an Olympic medal is unlikely to be easy, but they've won several big events now to know what it takes. The current men's doubles landscape is as competitive as it's unpredictable, with the top Indonesian pairs fading and the gap between best from China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Denmark, and the Indians being very small. Satwik and Chirag have beaten most of these pairs and have been on the receiving end of losses too just in the last one year.
But the open field is partly the reason why Satwik and Chirag's vibrancy stands out. Few years ago, even in the last Olympic cycle, Indians wouldn't feature in the list of top doubles pairs. Now, they are world No 2 and one of the teams to beat, winning gold medals in badminton-loving China and Indonesia.
It's been a steady climb.The Olympics heartbreak in 2021 led to Thomas Cup success in 2022 and the newer heights thereafter.
Now, in 2024 there is a full circle moment waiting to happen and Sat-Chi are walking towards it with the josh of youth, experience of veterans and the mindset of champions.