“Proud to be named as the King of delay,” Chirag Shetty says on Indonesian fans’ remarks

It has been a great year for Chirag Shetty who along with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have easily become India’s star doubles pairing having won some great titles this year. Despite winning several accolades and also being Indian Badminton’s most celebrated Doubles pairing, Chirag Shetty fails to be understood by people in Indonesia who call him the ‘King of Delay’. He is puzzled by the fact that they have given him such a unique nickname but the 25-year-old fails to understand the reason.

Speaking to The Bridge during a YouTube session, Chirag Shetty shared how the nickname was given by the Indonesian badminton fans and it started from the time when they featured in the Thomas Cup which they eventually won but the nickname stayed with him.

“I have a name in Indonesia – king of delay. I don’t know why, but that’s what I have been called since the Thomas Cup. And I take pride in that,” he said.

Despite taking the nickname with pride, Shetty fails to understand the context on which the name was given to him as he shared how the Indonesian fans have flooded over his social media posts with the same name (King of Delay). “I want to ask Indonesians, what have I done, just playing badminton, to deserve this name. All over my posts – even if I post a photo of me trekking in the hills – they still comment – ‘King of delay’. There is no context,” Shetty asked.

This trend was started at the Thomas Cup where India defeated favourites Indonesia to lift the historic Cup. In the finals Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Mohammed Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamujlo as the scoreline read 18-21, 23-21, 21-19 in favour of the Indians in a match that had several ups and downs. The match left a very lasting impact on the Indoesian fans as they started calling names to Chirag Shetty and till now they are suffering from that defeat as they flood his social media posts with those names.

The Indonesian fans could be referring to Chriag Shetty’s delay in serve for which even the chair umpires are often seen to hurry him up. According the rules, if both the server and the recover are ready one cannot delay play and therefore the Indonesian fans are not happy with the Indian shuttler.