2024-07-30 13:34:16
Paris: Medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Monday qualified for the badminton men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics with one match to spare after one pair withdrew from the competition while the other suffered a defeat. The world number three Indian pair was scheduled to face the German pair of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel on Monday in their second Group C match. But the match was cancelled due to Lamsfuss’ injury. As per the BWF’s competition rules for the group stage, the results of all matches involving Lamsfuss and Seidel that have been played or are yet to be played will be considered ‘deleted’. No points from the matches played against the German pair will be counted. As a result, the men’s doubles Group C will now have only three pairs. Apart from the Indian pair, France’s Lucas Corvi and Ronan Labar and Indonesia’s Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian are the other two pairs.
On Tuesday, the Satwik-Chirag pair will face the Ardianto-Alfian pair to decide who will top the group. The BWF said that the draw for the knockout round of the men’s doubles will be held on Wednesday. Earlier, the BWF had announced the withdrawal of the German pair of Lamsfuss and Seidel from the competition.
BWF said, ‘German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss of Germany has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury. Lamsfuss and his partner Marvin Seidel will not play the remaining Group C matches against India’s Satviksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court Three, 8.30 am local time, 29 July 2024) and France’s Lucas Corvi/Ronan Labar (Court One, not earlier than 2.50 pm local time, 30 July 2024).’ Satvik and Chirag started their campaign with a 21-17, 21-14 win over Corvi and Labar on Saturday.
Goal in the last one and a half minutes…. Captain Harmanpreet once again became the troubleshooter for India, saved them from defeat against Argentina
Ashwini and Tanisha pair suffered second defeatIn women’s doubles, Ashwini and Tanisha were defeated by world number four Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-11, 21-12 in a 48-minute match in Group C. Earlier, this Indian pair had lost to South Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 18-21, 10-21. World number 19 pair Ashwini and Tanisha are currently third in the group after the Japanese and Korean pairs. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals. Now in the last group match, Ashwini and Tanisha will face Australia’s Setiana Maupasa and Angela Yu. The Indian pair looked under pressure from the very beginning against their Japanese opponents. The Japanese pair took a 4-0 lead right from the beginning. Experienced Ashwini scored points to reduce the margin to 2-7. After this, however, the match remained one-sided and the Japanese players kept strengthening their lead. The Indian pair remained under pressure in the second game as well. Meanwhile, Tanisha injured her finger and had to undergo treatment. The Indian pair scored three consecutive points but the Japanese pair won the match with nine match points.