Paris, July 29: There were contrasting news for Indians from the badminton courts in Olympics 2024, here on Monday.
The group-stage match of doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was cancelled after their opponents' withdrew due to injury. The Indian pair faced a different challenge as German men's doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrew from the Olympic Games due to a knee injury.
But will that work in the Indian medal aspirants favour, or, will that affect them?
Well, that would be confirmed only after the results of the other matches in their group are clear.
Presumably, their opponents' injury withdrawal leaves reigning Asian Games champions Satwik-Chirag, in an advantageous position in the group.
Because the Indian pair on Saturday had defeated French combination of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-17 21-14 in a Group C contest.
Well, that implies, if Lucas and Ronan lose to Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammed Rian Ardianto in their group-stage tie, Satwik-Chirag will automatically go through to the quarterfinals.
But that was not all. There were more surprises for Indian badminton men's team. Because single's badminton player Lakshya Sen too had a similar development.
Lakshya's opponent Guatemala's Kevin Cordon's withdrawal due to elbow injury, left Lakshya in a precarious spot in Group L, after his straight-game win in his Olympic debut was 'deleted'.
Lakshya had defeated Cordon with a 21-8, 22-20 result in the Group L match on Saturday, pulled out of the Games.
But as per regulations after the result of that match was deleted, Lakshya will now be ranked based on the results of his remaining two matches in Group L. He will next take on Julien Carraggi.
However, despite minor changes in fixtures due to injuries to their opponents, Indian badminton camp in Paris, was upbeat of better show in 2024 Games.
