In-form Lakshya Sen stayed on course for a maiden Olympic medal but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty's dreams came crashing down after a heartbreaking three-game loss in the men's doubles quarterfinals at the badminton competition of the Paris Games on Thursday.
One of the favourites for the gold medal, Satwik and Chirag, the reigning Asian Games champions and Commonwealth Games winners, squandered a first-game advantage to go down 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a hard-fought quarterfinal against world number 3 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia.
Sen then brought some cheers back to the Indian camp after registering a comfortable 21-12 21-6 win over a tired-looking H.S. Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinals contest to become only the third male player ever from the country to reach the round of 8 of the Olympics badminton competition.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.
"I think having tough matches gives you confidence. I am now ready to go deep into the tournament. It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 per cent," Sen said after the match.
Earlier, Indian badminton fans across the globe were in for a shock when title contenders Satwik and Chirag flattered to deceive during their 64-minute slugfest.
The Indians entered the contest after stitching three successive wins against the Malaysians in the last three meetings.
Aaron and Chia had defeated the Indians eight times on the trot before those victories but none would hurt more than this loss as it came on the world's biggest stage.
Expectations were high from the two Indians given the pair's domination with four final appearances and two titles at the French Open and Thailand Open this year.
Carrying a billion hope, Satwik and Chirag, the former world no. 1, almost brutalised the Malaysians in the opening game with their aggressive display, but Aaron and Soh changed the tactics thereafter, bunting their attack and playing a more flat-fast game. Some defensive lapses also cost the Indians dear.
It was expectedly a close affair as the two pairs moved from 5-5 to 10-10 with Satwik and Chirag dominating the short and snappy rallies early on. The Indians not only peppered the former champions with booming smashes from the back but also dished out angled returns at a high pace. Soon the Malaysians fell behind 12-17 as Chirag eventually pocketed the game.
In the second game, the Indians opened up 4-0 lead but it was once again a neck-and-neck battle as the two pairs reached 10-10 before Aaron's smash gave them a one-point cushion.
The Malaysians started varying the serve and their flat fast game reaped dividends as they eked out a 16-12 lead with Chirag making a judgement error and also spraying into net once. Soon the Indians lagged 13-17.
Satwik then floated one wide and another error at the net by Chirag gave six game points to the Malaysian, who sealed it at the first chance.
Aaron and Soh looked the better pair in the decider. The Indians tried to slow down the rallies but the Malaysians engaged them in flat and fast exchanges. Soon it was 14-14 and 16-16. The Indians looked nervous as a variation of serve from Aaron bamboozled Chirag, who made a judgement error while receiving.
He then failed to reach a low pick-up at the front court as Malaysians grabbed four-point match point and sealed it when Satwik sprayed into the net.
Sen trumps Prannoy
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Sen was steady in his defense and mixed his attack well, while Prannoy, who played a three-game match last evening, looked tired and didn't show much resistance during the 39-minute contest.
It was the end of campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to a good start, leading 7-4. He kept things under control as Prannoy seemed to struggle, played too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act.
Sen closed out the opening game comfortably.
The second game was a blur as Sen looked rock solid and quickly wrapped up the contest after leading all the way.
