India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded third, had little trouble in overpowering the Indonesian team of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in straight sets in their final Group C match at the Paris Olympics.
The Indian duo, who had already sealed a historic quarter-final spot on Monday, won 21-13, 21-13 in 40 minutes against the world No. 7 pair at the La Chapelle Arena on Tuesday.
Satwik-Chirag, as a result, topped the Group C standings with two wins in two matches. The badminton men’s doubles quarter-finals will kick off on Thursday, August 1.
“Obviously we wanted to get this win in,” Shetty said. “It really boosts our confidence, that we could win against Fajar and Muhammad... they are a top pair and we’ve always really had some fun, tough battles against them.”
The Indian women’s doubles pair, however, had a forgettable outing. The team of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa remained winless at the Paris Games after they lost 21-15, 21-10 against Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in a Group C match on Tuesday.
This was the Indian duo’s third consecutive defeat as they finished their campaign at the bottom of their group standings.
Mapasa-Yu, ranked 26th in women’s doubles, made light work of the Indian pair in the second game to win the contest in just 38 minutes.
Boxers fall
Indian boxers Amit Panghal and Jaismine Lamboria stumbled in their opening bouts on Tuesday.
Panghal crashed out in the men’s 51kg Round of 16 losing 4-1 on points to Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba. It was a close contest but Panghal, an Asian Games champion, could not impress the judges.
Chinyemba, the third seed and a two-time African champion, edged the first two rounds by a 3-2 scoreline and proceeded to win the final round unanimously at the North Paris Arena.
This was Panghal’s second Olympic Games appearance. The 28-year-old boxer had lost in the last 16 of the Tokyo Games as well.
In the women’s 57kg Round of 32 bout, Jaismine lost to Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines by a unanimous decision.
Jaismine, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, maintained a high-intensity offensive tempo but Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Petecio — a two-time Southeast Asian Games champion — landed impactful punches in all three rounds.
Balraj hopes over
Balraj Panwar, the lone Indian rower at Paris 2024, finished fifth in quarter-final 4 of the men’s singles sculls event on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Army man clocked 7:05.10 and dropped out of medal contention.
Panwar, however, will race in semi-final C/D on Wednesday and will aim to record India’s best finish in Olympic rowing. The men’s lightweight double sculls duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh currently hold the record after ranking 11th at the Tokyo Olympics.
