Forced to make a fresh start after his opening win was wiped off the record books, an unfazed Lakshya Sen stamped his class to defeat Julien Carraggi of Belgium in straight games in their badminton men’s singles group match on Monday.
The 22-year-old Sen, who is making his Olympic debut, beat Carraggi 21-19, 21-14 in the Group L match that lasted 43 minutes.
Sen’s victory over Kevin Cordon, a Tokyo Olympics semi-finalist, in the opening Group L match on Sunday was “deleted” after his Guatemalan opponent pulled out of the Olympics due to a left elbow injury.
Sen, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at the 2021 World Championships, will face third seed, world No. 3 and reigning Asian champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in his final group matchon Wednesday.
The match will decide which of the two players moves forward as only one each from the 16 groups will qualify for the pre-quarters.
Sen didn’t make the best of starts and was trailing in the first game against his lower-ranked opponent. But he came out unscathed thanks to his tenacity.
Ranked 18th in the world, Sen was 8-11 behind in the first change of ends and the gap widened to 8-12.
But from there on, the Indian youngster roared back and levelled the score at 18-18 with the help of some fine smashes.
Sen was up 19-18 before Carraggi, ranked 52nd in the world, made it 19-19. But Sen held his nerves to win the next two points and pocket the first game.
“It was a bit hard to find my rhythm in the first game. But I came back and towards the end, I stuck in there. I did not try to play a perfect game but I just retrieved more shots and attacked on my chances whenever I could,” Sen said later.
Having got the momentum, Sen was unstoppable in the second game.
Satwik-Chirag advance
India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty booked their place in the quarter-finals on Monday. The Indian duo have confirmed a spot in the top eight following Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar’s defeat against Muhammad Rian Ardianto-Fajar Alfianin Group C.
Satwik-Chirag will play Ardianto-Alfian in their final group match on Tuesday.
The women’s doubles team of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, however, were defeated 21-11, 21-12 by Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu of Japan. It was the Indians’ second defeat.