Just 18 months after pairing up, the young mixed doubles pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath rise to World No 33.
What happens when two singles players join forces in doubles?
It could go either way.
But for Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, the move worked wonders as they are now Indian badminton's top mixed doubles pair.
They have risen to world number 33 in just a year and a half.
On February 4, 2024, Satish and Aadya clinched the Iran Fajr International Challenge title. Exactly a year later, the duo secured their maiden gold at the National Games in Dehradun on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu's top seed Satish later also claimed the men's singles title, beating Suryaksh Rawat of Uttarakhand 21-17, 21-17 with a dominating performance.
In between their triumph in Iran and at the Games in Dehradun, the young pair bagged titles in Azerbaijan and Uganda and also made a bid for the Paris Olympics. Though that goal didn't materialise, the Indian duo made a remarkable leap from world No. 432 in 2023 to the 33rd spot in the BWF Rankings.
Satish and Aadya fought hard to defeat Deep Rambhiya and Akshaya Warang 21-11, 20-22, 21-8 in a thrilling mixed doubles final to win gold at National Games.
While having tasted some success since teaming up, their journey has also seen its share of challenges.
The duo has been training in Kuala Lumpur under Malaysian coach Jivananthan Nair since April 2024. However, due to visa restrictions, they can't stay there for more than a month.
The 23-year-old Aadya said they are trying for a long-term visa so that they can train in Malaysia without the hassles of travelling back and forth.
"It has only been one-and-a-half years together. I had some family issues in India, so I had to move to Malaysia," Satish, who started as a swimmer and turned to badminton aged 12 after following his elder brother Arun Kumar, told PTI recently.
Aadya added: "So, since last April, we have tried to train in KL. If it's more than two weeks, we travel to KL. Otherwise, we manage a week of training at one of the centres in India.
"We train mostly in Bangalore because my home is in Bangalore. Sometimes he'll go to Coimbatore, so we take turns.
"If we can move to KL fully, that would be the ideal situation. We're working towards getting a long-term visa. We are trying, but haven't managed yet. Because the only option is a work visa, and with a work visa, we can't travel for tournaments like that because you can only be outside of Malaysia for 90 days."
While Aadya's focus is solely on mixed doubles now, Satish has been managing both singles and doubles, and with some success too.
The 23-year-old from Chennai secured his maiden Super 100 title at the Odisha Masters in 2023 and clinched another Super 100 crown last December at the Guwahati Masters.
"I should give credit to my team. I am playing two events, which is not easy, but they are taking care of me. My coach Jiva and my trainer Varun Suresh have been taking care of me. We are training at the Asia Badminton Academy in Malaysia," Sathish said.
So how does he balance the two formats?
"I have been playing mixed doubles since U-17. The program is given by the coaches. So far, everything is going well. Our team believes in us, so let's see," he said.
"We were almost close to qualifying, but in the last few tournaments, I wasn't well, so I missed out on the Olympics."
Aadya, daughter of a software engineer, was enrolled into a summer camp in Mumbai at the age of four and began regular badminton coaching at six. She then trained under Ganguly Prasad for seven years, following her father's transfer to Bangalore and then worked for another seven years with Ajit Wijetilekk.
"I was a singles player but have also shifted to doubles in the last year-and-a-half. We go sparring in different places. The pace at which singles happen is different from mixed doubles. We go to different clubs, sometimes sparring with independent players, so it's good for our game."
The duo will have to train in India this month as its next goal is the All England Championships, set to take place from March 11 to 16.
"We thought this month, we can go to KL to train but then we have to get our Schengen and UK visa. So, we have to stay here and try figure out a way because we need a good training for three to four weeks at least," Aadya signed off.
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