Paris Olympics 2024: Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag crash out as Sen outplays Prannoy to enter quarters

It was curtains for PV Sindhu’s Paris Olympics campaign as she crashed out of the badminton women’s singles competition in the Round of 16 with a 19-21, 14-21 loss against China’s He Bing Jiao on Thursday.

Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and more

Also bowing out of the Paris Games were Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, whose journey in the men’s doubles competition came to an end with a 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 defeat at the hands of Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the quarter-finals.

There was some good news for Indian badminton fans though with Lakshya Sen pulled off a one-sided 21-12, 21-6 victory to advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals, though it came at the expense of HS Prannoy in an all-Indian Round of 16 clash.

Sindhu returns empty-handed for the first time

Sindhu suffered a 19-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of China’s He Bing Jiao, the shuttler she had defeated exactly three years ago to win bronze in the Tokyo Olympics.

Before the Tokyo bronze, Sindhu had collected silver on Olympic debut in Rio 2016 after a defeat against Spain’s Carolina Marin in the women’s singles final.

We have to accept that HBJ was better than Sindhu today.

But we must not forget what a legend Sindhu has been for Indian Sport. 2 Olympic medals and 5 World Championship medals. Given all of us fans so much joy over the years 🇮🇳🙏🏽#olympics #Paris2024 #Badminton

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) August 1, 2024

Heading into Thursday’s last-16 clash against a familiar foe, Sindhu would have had her eyes fixed on a hat-trick of medals — which could have made her the first Indian to achieve the feat at the Olympics.

Sindhu, however, returns empty-handed from the Summer Olympics for the first time after her exit on Thursday.

Like Sindhu, Satwik and Chirag were heavily favoured to win a maiden Olympic men’s doubles medal for India after winning gold in last year’s Asian Games and also a bronze in the World Championships.

They had breezed through the group stage unbeaten with two wins in as many outings, including a 21-13, 21-13 victory over the higher-ranked Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

The Indian pair appeared favourites to enter the semi-finals for the first time after taking the opening game against Aaron and Soh, with seven game-points in hand at that.

The Malaysians, however, bounced back in style thereafter to reach the Olympic semi-finals for the second successive time.

As It Happened | India at Paris Olympics, Day 6

The two pairs were engaged in a fierce battle in the decider after Aaron and Soh leveled the contest with a 21-14 victory. Satwik and Chirag were leading 11-9 in Game 3 and were 14-11 ahead after winning three points in a row, raising hopes of their appearances in the semi-finals.

The Malaysians, however, dominated the final stretch of the contest, winning 10 out of the next 12 points to keep their campaign alive.

Lakshya keeps Indian flag flying high in badminton

As for the men’s singles showdown, 32-year-old Prannoy could hardly catch up with his 22-year-old opponent despite being highest-ranked Indian singles shuttler at the time of the Paris Games getting underway.

Almora native Sen, who had won World Championships bronze in 2021, had eight gamepoints in hand at the time of sealing Game 1 and was even more dominant in the second game, not allowing his senior colleague to even enter double-digits.

Both Sen and Prannoy had advanced from the group stage in their maiden Olympic appearance winning all of their matches. Prannoy defeated Fabian Roth and Le Duc Phat, Sen won three-in-three in Group L, including a 21-18, 21-12 victory over Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, ranked third in the world before the Olympics.

Sen’s victory over Kevin Cordon, however, was removed from Paris 2024 records  after the Guatemalan pulled out of the competition with an elbow injury.

With Satwik-Chirag and Prannoy also bowing out, and the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa failing to advance beyond the group stage, Sen is India’s final hope for a badminton medal at the Paris Olympics. He faces Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the men’s singles quarter-finals at 6.30 pm on Friday.

India have won a badminton medal in each of the last three Olympics — though no more than one. And whether they can keep that streak alive will depend entirely on Sen when he faces Chou in the last-8.