Indian shuttlers make confident start
Paris, July 27
Medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signalled their intention with an easy straight-game victory in their opening group stage men’s doubles match after singles ace Lakshya Sen got his maiden Olympics campaign underway on a winning note.
The third-seeded duo of Satwik-Chirag, the reigning Asian Games champions, notched up a 21-17 21-14 win against the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a Group C match while Sen beat Tokyo edition semifinalist Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8 22-20 in a Group C contest of the men’s singles.
Satwik and Chirag will face Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany in their second match on Monday.
The French pair gave a tough fight to the Indians in the first game but Satwik and Chirag imposed themselves on their opponents in the second game, winning most of the rallies in the match that lasted 45 minutes.
The 22-year-old Sen, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at the 2021 World Championships, will face Julien Carraggi of Belgium in his second group match on Monday.
TT: Harmeet advances
Appearing in his maiden Olympics, seasoned Indian paddler Harmeet Desai progressed to the second round of the men’s singles table tennis competition with a convincing 4-0 victory over Jordan’s Zaid Abo Yaman. Harmeet won 11-7 11-9 11-5 11-5 to get his campaign underway on a positive note.
