Paris Olympics badminton: Satwik-Chirag pair sails through; Lakshya overcomes Cordon

Indian shuttlers shine in Paris Olympics with Lakshya Sen's win and Satwik-Chirag's victory in doubles match.

Indian shuttlers made a bright start with Lakshya Sen winning his men’s singles encounter and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty posting victory in the La Chapelle Arena in the Paris Olympics in Paris on July 27.

World championships bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games gold winner Lakshya beat Guatemala’s 37-year-old Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20 in his opening Group L match.

The contest, 42 minutes long, consisted of two contrasting games with Lakshya dominating the first, as he won as many as 14 points from his service and took a 13-point lead at one stage to finish it off in just 14 minutes.

Cordon challenged the Indian in the second game, in which the duo were engaged in two long rallies, comprising 31 and 28 shots. Some errors by Lakshya helped Cordon reach game point at 20-16, but the Indian — guided by Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar — maintained his composure to save four match points and added two more, closing the match with a smash and thwarting the Pan-American champion’s comeback bid.

The World No. 3 Satwik-Chirag pair defeated the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-17, 21-14 in a Group C match, lasting 46 minutes.

After claiming the first game comfortably, the Worlds bronze medallist Indians, barring some errors, built a six-point lead before posting victory.

Lakshya will next play Belgium’s Julien Carraggi while Satwik-Chirag pair will meet Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel next.