Satviksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s coach Mathias Bo announced his retirement from coaching after India’s top badminton pair crashed out of the Paris Olympics. Satvik and Chirag lost 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the men’s doubles quarterfinals on Thursday. London Olympics silver medalist Bo joined Chirag and Satvik as their coach before the Tokyo Olympics.
“For me, the coaching days are over here, I will not continue at least for now, not in India or anywhere else. I have spent too much time in the badminton hall and being a coach is also quite stressful, I am a tired old man,” Boe, a 44-year-old former Danish player, wrote on his Instagram account.
Satwik and Chirag were medal contenders in the men’s doubles category in Paris and Boe consoled them. He said, “I myself know this feeling very well. Working hard every day, being in the best rhythm of your life and then things do not happen as you expect.” Boe said, “I know you guys are disappointed, I know you wanted to bring a medal for India but this time it could not happen.”
However, Bo said that even though his disciples did not return with a medal from Paris, he is leaving the post as a satisfied man. He said, “You have everything to be proud of. How hard you have worked in this Olympic camp, battling injuries, taking injections to reduce pain, this is dedication, this is passion.” Former world number 1 and London Olympics men’s doubles silver medalist, Bo took to social media to announce his retirement. Bo also coached the Indian doubles teams, including Chirag and Satwik, at Tokyo 2020 before being released by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). However, Bo was reappointed after the BAI failed to appoint Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her as the new coach. Bo’s second stint with the Indian team was extremely successful, especially for Satwik-Chirag. The Indian pair won a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In 2023, Satwik-Chirag became the Asian Games champions and won the gold medal at the Asian Championships before becoming the first Indian badminton doubles team to top the world rankings.
The Indian doubles players also won several top-level BWF World Tour tournaments under Boe’s leadership, including the Super 1000 Indonesia Open in 2023. Boe is married to Indian Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu and the couple recently celebrated Taapsee’s 37th birthday together in Paris.
