Paris 2024 Olympics: Lakshya Sen beats HS Prannoy to reach quarters of badminton men’s singles

PARIS: Lakshya Sen advanced to the quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 Olympics badminton men’s singles event after beating H.S. Prannoy 21-12, 21-6 in an all-Indian round of 16 tie at the La Chapelle Arena on Thursday.

After winning the first game in 21 minutes, Sen blew away Prannoy in the second game. The 22-year-old Lakshya banked on his better fitness to unleash some unplayable shots while a tiring Prannoy, who was down with chikungunya infection a few weeks back, committed unforced errors before bowing out.

In the quarterfinal, Sen will face 12th-seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei who reached the last eight after defeating Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the round of 16.

Earlier in the day, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event, going down 21-13, 14-21, 16-21 against the current World No. 3 Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

In the first game, Satwik-Chirag took the lead but could not maintain the momentum as the pair was defeated in three games by Chia-Yik, the former world champions. From a 10-10 tie, the Indian pair won the next five points and then extended it to 17-11. Satwik and Chirag had a game point at 20-12. The Malaysians saved one game point, but the Indians could not be denied and won the first game.

After taking the first game 21-13, Sat-Chi lost the second 14-21 as the Malaysian duo bounced back hard with a flurry of smashes and net shots. From 10-10, they opened up a lead and extended it to 17-12, Satwik and Chirag won the next two points, but Malaysians won four points in a row to win the game 21-14.

The Malaysian duo started the third game with attacking play and took the initial lead at 2-0. However, the Indian pair was swift in counter-attack, pinning the Malaysian duo to the backcourt. The third game which lasted 24 minutes saw the Malaysian duo prevail over the Indians by five points. Agencies

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