Paris: The young Lakshya Sen made the most of a knackered HS Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinal clash but doubles ace Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, tipped as a medal hope, made errors galore to crash out as the country endured contrasting fortunes in the badminton competition of the Paris Olympics here on Thursday.
While Lakshya didn’t have to sweat much in posting a 21-12, 21-6 win against an exhausted Prannoy who turned up for the bout more with hope than anything else, Chirag and Satwik fumbled badly after a solid opening game to lose 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 against the Malaysian duo of Wooi Yik Soo and Aaron Chia in their quarterfinal clash.
Lakshya takes on Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Expectations were sky high from Chirag and Satwik given the form they were in coming into the Olympics. Unlike their colleagues who have been in patchy form, Chirag and Satwik were the only ones with titles this year. They are the reigning Asian Games champion and also had peaked to World No. 1.
In fact, after Manu Bhaker created history by becoming the Indian to win two medals in a single Olympics, the path-breaking duo had said their mission in Paris was to become the first Indian doubles pair from badminton to win a medal at the quadrennial event.
And the way they started the contest in the show court against the Malaysians, ranked two rungs below them at No. 5, it looked like they meant every word of what they said. They excelled in the rallies, were brilliant from the back of the court, showed good delicateness near the net and were solid in their serves as well. They dominated the Malaysians, against whom they’d won their three previous bouts following eight successive defeats, literally in every facet of the game. The opening game was dusted off in 17 minutes.
The Malaysians, world champions in 2022 and winners of the bronze medal at the Tokyo Games three years ago, summoned that spirit in the second and third games. They figured the strength of the Indians was from the back of the court and they focussed more on nullifying their power game by drawing them closer to the net with deft lobs.
Chirag and Satwik kept pace till the halfway stage of the second but struggled to keep pace thereafter. The unforced errors started to mount and the Malaysians, playing smart badminton, raced away to a big lead and levelled the affair in quick time.
Chirag and Satwik struggled in the decider too. The Malaysians employed a similar strategy of delicate net play and as much as the Indian tried to force their opponents into altering their plan, Aaron and Soh stood strong. They won most of the points near the net, were stronger during the rare rallies and just kept galloping ahead before securing their quarterfinal ticket when Chirag hit the net.
“We allowed the pressure to get the better of us,” said a downcast Chirag. “There were a lot of errors from our side. We have played a lot of high pressure matches in our lives and we are disappointed with our performance today.”