Paris Olympics 2024: The star badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian doubles pair to book a place in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games on Monday.
Satwik and Chirag have progressed to the next round from Group C with a game in hand. The Indian pair's match against Germany's Marvin Seidel and Mark Lamsfuss was cancelled after Lamsfuss pulled out due to an injury.
Satwik and Chirag's place for the last eight was confirmed after the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labrar lost to Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Rian Muhammad Ardianto. The World No.3 Indian pair earlier defeated the French pair and is placed at the top of Group C. They now face the Indonesian pair to determine the group-topper.
Lakshya Sen beats Belgium's Carraggi after the opener got deleted
Lakshya Sen defeated Belgium's Julien Carraggi after being forced to begin his campaign at the Paris Olympics again. Lakshya had defeated Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in his opener but the game was deleted after the latter pulled out of the Paris Games due to a left elbow injury. Sen, who is a reigning Commonwealth Games champion, will be up against world number three and reigning Asian champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in his final group match on Wednesday.
This is a do-or-a-die match for both the players as only one player from each of the 16 groups will proceed further to the last 16. Sen beat Carraggi 21-19 21-14. "It was a bit hard to find my rhythm in the first game. But I came back and towards the end I stuck in there. I did not try to play a perfect game but I just retrieved more shots and attacked on my chances whenever I could," Sen said later.
"It was a good match today, especially in the first game, happy with the way I converted (the points). In the second game, I was much more in control. Looking forward to the next game," Sen added.
