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Lakshya Sen stayed on track for a maiden Olympic medal however Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s desires got here crashing down after a heartbreaking three-game loss within the males’s doubles quarterfinals on the badminton competitors of the Paris Video games in Paris on Thursday. One of many favourites for the gold medal, Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Video games champions and Commonwealth Video games winners, squandered a first-game benefit to go down 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a hard-fought quarterfinal in opposition to world quantity 3 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
Sen then introduced some cheers again to the Indian camp after registering a cushty 21-12 21-6 win over a tired-looking HS Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinals contest to turn into solely the third male participant ever from the nation to succeed in the spherical of 8 of the Olympics badminton competitors.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Video games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals within the London and Rio version of the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
At present ranked 22, Sen will face twelfth seed Chinese language Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen within the quarterfinals.
“I feel having powerful matches provides you confidence. I’m now able to go deep into the match. It is going to be a tough match in opposition to Chou, I’ve to go and recuperate effectively and provides my 100 per cent,” Sen mentioned after the match.
Earlier, Indian badminton followers throughout the globe have been in for a shock when title contenders Satwik and Chirag flattered to deceive throughout their 64-minute slugfest.
The Indians entered the competition after stitching three successive wins in opposition to the Malaysians within the final three conferences.
Aaron and Chia had defeated the Indians eight instances on the trot earlier than these victories however none would damage greater than this loss because it got here on the world’s greatest stage.
Expectations have been excessive from the 2 Indians given the pair’s domination with 4 remaining appearances and two titles on the French Open and Thailand Open this 12 months.
Carrying a billion hope, Satwik and Chirag, the previous world no. 1, nearly brutalised the Malaysians within the opening sport with their aggressive show, however Aaron and Soh modified the ways thereafter, bunting their assault and enjoying a extra flat-fast sport. Some defensive lapses additionally price the Indians expensive.
It was expectedly a detailed affair as the 2 pairs moved from 5-5 to 10-10 with Satwik and Chirag dominating the brief and snappy rallies early on. The Indians not solely peppered the previous champions with booming smashes from the again but additionally dished out angled returns at a excessive tempo. Quickly the Malaysians fell behind 12-17 as Chirag finally pocketed the sport.
Within the second sport, the Indians opened up 4-0 lead nevertheless it was as soon as once more a neck-and-neck battle as the 2 pairs reached 10-10 earlier than Aaron’s smash gave them a one-point cushion.
The Malaysians began various the serve and their flat quick sport reaped dividends as they eked out a 16-12 lead with Chirag making a judgement error and in addition spraying into internet as soon as. Quickly the Indians lagged 13-17.
Satwik then floated one huge and one other error on the internet by Chirag gave six sport factors to the Malaysian, who sealed it on the first probability.
Aaron and Soh appeared the higher pair within the decider. The Indians tried to decelerate the rallies however the Malaysians engaged them in flat and quick exchanges. Quickly it was 14-14 and 16-16. The Indians appeared nervous as a variation of serve from Aaron bamboozled Chirag, who made a judgement error whereas receiving.
He then failed to succeed in a low pick-up on the entrance court docket as Malaysians grabbed four-point match level and sealed it when Satwik sprayed into the online.
Sen trumps Prannoy
Sen was regular in his protection and combined his assault effectively, whereas Prannoy, who performed a three-game match final night, appeared drained and did not present a lot resistance in the course of the 39-minute contest.
It was the top of marketing campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to begin, main 7-4. He stored issues below management as Prannoy appeared to battle, performed too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act.
Sen closed out the opening sport comfortably.
The second sport was a blur as Sen appeared rock strong and shortly wrapped up the competition after main all the way in which.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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