RAJGIR, Aug. 31 -- A year ago, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had walked into the Adidas Arena in Paris looking to continue Indian badminton's medal-winning run at the Olympics. Seeded third in men's doubles, they were one of the favourites to medal in the Games. But Malaysian pair Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik broke Indian hearts by halting the duo's run in the quarter-finals, ending the country's hopes of winning a fourth successive Olympic medal in badminton. It was deja vu late on Friday as the same pairs faced each other at the same venue and at the same stage, this time at the BWF World Championships. And it was Rankireddy and Shetty who came out on top to take revenge, beating the Malaysian world No.2 pair 21-12, 21-19 in 43 minutes to improve their head-to-head to 4-11. "The feeling is really good. It was a rematch of sorts from the Olympics. And we finally got some redemption. It was the same court, same arena, a year back exactly. It's always a pleasure playing against them. We've always had some really tough battles at the biggest of events. Really happy we could win," said Shetty. By doing so, Rankireddy and Shetty assured themselves of another medal from the prestigious annual competition, having won a bronze in 2022. It also extended India's streak of winning at least one medal in the tournament since 2011. The ninth seeds joined Saina Nehwal (2) and PV Sindhu (5) as the only Indians to win multiple medals at the World Championships. The last year or so hasn't exactly been an easy period for the reigning Asian Games champions. After they won the Thailand Open in May 2024, they had gone a full 15 months without reaching a final heading to Paris. Though they made five semi-finals since Bangkok, four this year, they found the going tough. And a lot of it comes down to their physical struggles. Rankireddy's shoulder has been a perennial problem for the 25-year-old, forcing the pair to pull out of multiple tournaments. But he also developed issues in his lower back ahead of last year's Olympics. After the Games, both decided to take a three-and-a-half-month break to let their bodies heal. The pair returned at the China Masters in November 2024 where they reached the semis but following that Shetty developed spasmic back pain which continued for months. In an interview to HT, Shetty had said at times the shooting pain was too much to take....