 "Lakshya Sen celebrates after beating Belgium's Julien Carraggi during their men's singles badminton group stage match at 2024 Paris Olympics. AP")
Lakshya Sen made easy work of Belgium’s Julien Carraggi in his men’s singles Group L match at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Monday as the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto suffered a second consecutive group stage defeat.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s match was cancelled.
Paris Olympics 2023: Day 3 LIVE UpdatesThe 22-year-old Sen defeated the Belgian opponent in straight sets 21-19, 21-14 in a match that lasted for 43 minutes at the La Chapelle Arena. Sen was forced to overcome a four-point deficit to win the first game but was in control of the second game.
This was Sen’s first official win of the Paris Olympics after his straight sets win over shuttler Kevin Cordon (21-8, 22-10) was ‘deleted’. After the Guatemalan withdrew from the Olympics due to a left elbow injury, the result was deleted as per the playing regulations of BWF, the global body of badminton.
Group L now only have three players including Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, Carraggi and Sen.
Christie had defeated Carraggi in his first match and faces Sen on 31 July. The winner of that match will qualify for the Round of 16.
How Ponnappa and Crasto lost
Ponnappa-Crasto went down in straight games to the world number four Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 11-21, 12-21 in the 48-minute Group C match and now stare at an early exit.
The Indian duo had lost their opener against South Korea’s Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.
Ponnappa and Crasto, world number 19, are currently placed third in their group behind the Japanese and the South Koreans.
The two top-ranked pairs from each group qualify for the quarterfinals.
“A bit disappointed because this was the only shot we had for a chance to get to the quarters. Not the way we wanted to play but they were very strong. I wish we had given them a better fight. We have one more match and hope we can win that,” Ponnappa said after the game.
“They were very strong, offensively and defensively. Defensively we were a bit lacking today which cost us quite a few points. Offensively, when we were attacking, we could have capitalised a bit more,” she added.
The Indians were not able to apply any pressure on their opponents as they never managed to take lead or even draw parity.
The Japanese duo, on the other hand, took control of the match from the onset, racing to a 4-0 lead after Crasto netted a long rally.
The seasoned Ponnappa produced a smash to earn India’s first point and Crasto followed suit with a body smash to make it 2-7.
But it was mostly one-way traffic from there as the Japanese kept inflating their lead to take the game.
The Indians were put under pressure from the start in the second game as the Japanese raced to a 7-1 lead.
To make matters worse for the Indians, Crasto injured her finger and required medical attention.
Crasto and Ponnappa then fetched three back-to-back points but the Japanese squashed the Indians’ momentum.
Matsuyama and Shida’s quick court coverage, coordination, and effective combination of power and placement proved too much for the Indian pair and in the end the Japanese had nine match points.
Ponnappa and Crasto will take on Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in their final group game.
Satwik-Chirag match cancelled
Satwik-Chirag was scheduled to meet the German duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel in the men’s doubles Group C clash on Monday. But the match was cancelled after Lamsfuss pulled out due to injury.
“German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury,” the BWF informed.
“Lamsfuss’ and teammate Marvin Seidel‘s remaining Group C matches against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court 3, 8.30am local time, 29 July 2024) and Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar of France (Court 1, ‘Not Before’ 2.50pm local time, 30 July 2024) will not be played,” it added.
Satwik and Chirag had opened their campaign with a 21-17, 21-14 win over the French combination of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar on Saturday.
They will take on Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in their final game on Tuesday.
Due to the withdrawal of the German pair, the Indonesians’ win over Lamsfuss and Sseidel on Saturday has been deleted.
With agency inputs