Paris Olympics 2024 medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Sen registered an easy win in the men’s doubles event in the first round on Saturday, while tournament debutant Lakshya Sen started with a win in the men’s singles event. Third seeded Asian Games champions Satwik and Chirag defeated Lucas Corvy and Ronan Labar of France 21-17, 21-14 in a match that lasted 46 minutes.
At the same time, Lakshya defeated world number 41 player Kevin Corden in straight games in Group L. World number 18 Lakshya Sen was given a tough fight by Guatemala’s Kevin in the second game, but the Indian player managed to win 21-8, 22-20 in 42 minutes. Satwik and Chirag will now face the German pair of Mark Lamphus and Marvin Seidel on Monday.
Lakshya made a great start to the match by scoring five consecutive points to take a 5-0 lead. The Indian player was leading 11-2 at the break. Even after the break, Lakshya maintained its dominance and took the score to 18-5. Lakshya secured 12 game points with a cross court smash at 19-8 and then Kevin gave the first game to the Indian player with a shot from outside the court.
Kevin made a better start in the second game and took a 4-1 lead. Kevin took advantage of Target’s mistakes to lead 11-6 at the break. Lakshya hit many shots in and out of the net during this period. The Guatemalan player made some powerful smashes and good shots to increase the lead to 15-8. Lakshya then made a strong comeback with six consecutive points on the score of 16-20 and won the game and match by 22-20. From the corner of the court, great badminton players Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar were continuously giving him directions.
