Despite his stunning win in the first round of the men's singles Group L match of the Paris Olympics, Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen's victory will be deleted after the opponent he defeated withdrew from the Olympics due to an injury. Sen had defeated Gautemala's Kevin Cordon (21-8, 22-20) in straight sets. The match lasted just 42 minutes.
However, Cordon pulled out of the Paris Olympics due to a left elbow injury, following which Sen's victory was deleted. "Guatemalan men's singles player Kevin Cordon has withdrawn from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Badminton Competition due to a left elbow injury," the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said in an update.
Since Cordon withdrew, his remaining Group L matches against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie and Belgium's Julien Carraggi will not be held. These matches were slated to be held on Monday and Wednesday.
As per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving Cordon in Group L are now considered deleted. Hence, the Group L matches will be between Sen, Carraggi and Christie.
This also means that Sen will be ranked based on the results of his remaining two matches in Group L. Interestingly, Sen will be the only player to have played three matches while Carraggi and Christie need to play only 2 to make it to the knockout stage.
Sen will face Carraggi on Monday and take on Christie in his final group match on Wednesday.
Also read: Badminton star Lakshya Sen's mantra - one match at a time
Sen, a 22-year-old from Uttarakhand’s Almora, was not in his ultimate form till January but made an interesting comeback to reach the semifinals of both the French Open and the All England Open to seal his berth at Paris 2024.
“I was struggling,” Sen told THE WEEK. “By November, there was a change in my approach with a focus on building myself rather than just playing tournaments. I got those few weeks of good training, in Bengaluru, in November and December to build myself up. It was the key to changing results.”