Indian Shuttler Lakshya Sen makes winning start in 33rd Olympic Game

Paris: India's Lakshya Sen defeated Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 22-20 in 42 minutes in a men's singles Group L match of badminton competition to make a winning start in the 33rd Olympic Games here on Saturday.

After winning the first game easily, Lakshya faced a tough fight from World No. 41 Cordon and was on the verge of losing the second game, facing five match points at 16-20.

However, the Indian shuttler won six points in a row as he came back strongly to win the second game 22-20 to clinch victory, avoiding playing the third game.

It was a morale-boosting victory for Lakshya as Cordon was one of the stars at Tokyo, storming into the semifinals before narrowly missing the bronze medal.

Meanwhile  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty registered a convincing 2-0 victory over home favourites Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar in Group C of men's doubles badminton.  (IANS)

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