Paris 2024 Olympics badminton: PV Sindhu tops group; Lakshya Sen vs HS Prannoy clash set in pre-quarterfinals
India’s PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy booked their spots in the knockout stages of their respective Paris 2024 Olympics badminton events on Wednesday.
The day started with PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist, clinching a comfortable victory in the women’s singles, beating world No. 73 Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 21-5, 21-10 and finishing on the top of the standings in her group.
The winner of each of the 16 groups qualifies for the round of 16.
“I’m very happy, and of course,” the 29-year-old PV Sindhu said. “It was important for me to top the group, to be its number one.
In the men’s singles, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen emerged victorious in their final group matches, thus topping their respective groups. The two will face each other in the round of 16 on Monday.
World No. 13 PV Sindhu dominated the 27-year-old Kristin Kuuba to seal the match in 34 minutes to seal her third straight appearance in the knockout stages at the Olympics.
Sindhu will face the sixth-seeded He Bingjiao of the People’s Republic of China in the round of 16 on Monday.
“It won’t be an easy match (against He Bingjiao),” Sindhu said. “But at the same time, I hope I’ll take this confidence and move forward with it.
“Every match is important, you can’t expect easy matches or points. I have to be prepared and give myself entirely.”
He Bingjiao has an 11-9 advantage in the head-to-head record against the Indian badminton player and also won their last meeting at the Asian Games quarter-finals last year. Sindhu had beaten the Chinese player in the Tokyo 2020 bronze medal match.
In the men’s singles, the unseeded Lakshya Sen produced a terrific result, stunning third-seeded Indonesian Jonatan Christie in straight sets 21-18, 21-12. Christie is the reigning All England champion.
Christie, fourth in the badminton rankings, began on the front foot and raced away to an 8-2 lead, but the world No. 22 Lakshya Sen pulled things back by winning seven points in a row. The game went down the wire until the end, but it was the Indian who held his nerve to take a 1-0 lead.
A string of unforced errors early on in the second game from the 26-year-old Christie helped Lakshya Sen, who gained an 11-6 advantage at the break. The 22-year-old Indian shuttler built on his momentum to seal the match in 50 minutes.
Later, world No. 13 HS Prannoy, an Asian Games bronze medallist, came from a game down against the 70th-ranked Le Duc Phat of Vietnam to win 16-21, 21-11, 21-12 to set up a clash with compatriot Lakshya Sen.
The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty confirmed their quarter-finals berth on Tuesday where they will take on Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.