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 Olympic campaign underway on a winning note here on Saturday. 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.

Lakshya Sen wins in 42 minutes

Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen beat Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in straight games in a group match of the men’s singles badminton competition at the Paris Olympics here on Saturday. The 22-year-old Sen won 21-8 22-20 against reigning Pan American champion Cordon in his Olympics debut match that lasted 42 minutes. Sen, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at 2021 World Championships, will face Julien Carraggi of Belgium on Monday in his second group match.

Despite Cordon’s good comeback in the second game, Sen held his nerves and emerged as the winner to begin his campaign on a resounding note.

Sen pocketed the first game easily in just 14 minutes. He straightaway took 5-0 lead and was 11-2 ahead at the first change of ends. There was no let up from the Indian as he wrapped up the first match without much resistance from his opponent.

Cordon fought back in the second game and was 6-2 ahead after a fine net play. The Indian closed the gap at 6-8 after a nice smash.

But Sen was more error prone in the second game than in the first and he trailed 7-12 at the change of ends.

The Guatemalan kept himself ahead, winning more rallies than Sen. He was just one point away from taking the match to the deciding game as he was 20-16 ahead.

With legends Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar guiding him from the court corner, Sen saved his best for the last and he reeled off four straight points to level the scores 20-20 and then won another two points to seal the match.

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