Paris 2024 Olympics badminton: PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag stunned; Lakshya Sen beats HS Prannoy to make quarters
India’s PV Sindhu and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty suffered shock exits from their respective badminton events at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Thursday.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, lost to the People’s Republic of China’s He Bingjiao 21-19, 21-14, while Satwik-Chirag, world No. 5, lost 12-21, 21-14, 21-16 to the third-ranked Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
Lakshya Sen, however, progressed to the quarter-finals after beating compatriot HS Prannoy 21-12, 21-6 in the men’s singles.
PV Sindhu, world No. 13, started her match on the backfoot. She trailed 7-2 early on against the world No. 9 He Bingjiao, who went on the attack, particularly with smashes which the Indian could not answer. The game levelled at 19-19 but it was the Chinese shuttler who sealed it.
In the second game, the Chinese shuttler stormed to an 8-2 lead from which Sindhu could not recover. Combined with a series of the Indian’s errors and He Bingjiao’s attacking game, the match wrapped up in a little under an hour.
“It's sad that I couldn't get the result that I wanted but at the Olympics everybody wants to win,” PV Sindhu said. “Unfortunately that couldn't happen or it didn't go the right way for me.”
Incidentally, PV Sindhu beat He Bingjiao at Tokyo 2020 to win a bronze medal.
“He Bing Jiao is a good player, we played a lot of times in the last year and before that as well. So we know each other's game,” the Indian explained.
“The first game should have been a bit different, especially at 19-19. It was anybody's game,” she pointed out. “Maybe if I had won the first set it would have been different. I would have had a lot more confidence.
“The second game was good in the beginning but she took a lead like 5-2, 6-2 and then kept going. I was trying to cover it but I was making simple errors,” Sindhu admitted. “Overall I just felt that it's a sad day but I need to keep my head high.”
Earlier in the day, Satwik-Chirag squandered a lead to suffer a shock exit. In the opening game against Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, the two pairs were level at 8-8 early on but the Indian badminton players took control to pick up a 15-10 lead and eventually sealed the game.
The second game was heading close as well at 10-10, but the Malaysian duo stepped up and forced errors out from the Indian pair, leading the match to a decider.
In the final game, Satwik-Chirag were inching towards a maiden semi-finals appearance at 14-11, but let the advantage slip away. Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik won five points in a row from 16-16 to knock out the Indian duo in a little over an hour.
World No. 22 Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, dominated HS Prannoy, ranked 11th, in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals to emerge victorious in straight sets 21-12, 21-6 in 39 minutes.
Lakshya Sen, became only the third Indian to enter the quarter-finals of the men’s singles after Parupalli Kashyap (London 2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (Rio 2016).
India’s sole remaining challenge in badminton at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Lakshya Sen will face 12th-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles quarter-finals on Friday.