2024 Paris Olympics, badminton: India's Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag win
India's Lakshya Sen defeated Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in the first round of the men's singles badminton event on Saturday at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Lakshya defeated his opponent 21-8, 22-20 in straight games. Notably, Lakshya won six straight points in the end to win the match. India's famed men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their opening clash.
A solid win for Lakshya
Making his Olympic debut, Lakshya showed a lot of character against five-time Olympian Cordon on the La Chapelle Arena Court 1 in Marseille. He won the first game in just 14 minutes and didn't give any room to Cordon, with some splendid defence against the latter's smashes. In the second game, Cordon was looking in fine touch before Lakshya came strong toward the end.
Second meeting between Lakshya and Cordon
This was the second meeting between Lakshya and Cordon. Before this, they met at the 2021 World Championships, where Lakshya defeated Cordon 21-13, 21-8.
Win for doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag
Satwiksairaj and Chirag overcame France's Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar. The Indian duo sealed the first game of in 23 minutes, winning 21-17. In the second game, Satwik-Chirag took a three-point lead early on at 8-5 before heading into the the mid-game interval with the score reading 11-8. After the mid-game interval, Satwik-Chirag raced to a four-point lead before seeing out the contest 21-14.
