Already qualified for quarterfinals Satwik-Chirag pair tops group with win over Indonesian duo

    Paris, Jul 30 (PTI) Medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty notched up a dominating straight-game win against Indonesian duo of Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian to top Group C in men's doubles badminton competition at the Paris Games here on Tuesday.
    The third-seeded Satwik and Chirag beat their opponents 21-13 21-13 in the final group match that lasted just 38 minutes.
    The Indian pair had qualified for the quarterfinals on Monday after the withdrawal of the German duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel and the lost suffered by Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France at the hands of Ardianto and Alfian combine.
    Satwik and Chirag became the first Indians to reach the doubles quarterfinals in the Olympics. They will know their quarterfinals opponents when the draws are held on Wednesday.
    "Really happy with the way we played today. More than topping the group, we wanted to get this win. It will boost our confidence. They (the Indonesian pair) are a top team and we really had tough fights against them earlier. So, we are happy," Chirag said after the match.
    The Indonesians qualified for the quarterfinals after finishing second in the group. The third pair of Corvee and Labar were eliminated after losing both their matches.
    The Group C competition was rendered a three-pair affair after Germans Lamsfuss and Seidel pulled out due to injury of the former. The top two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the quarterfinals.
    The Asian Games champion Indians completely dominated the match as they were in front throughout except at the beginning of the second game.
    They were 11-8 ahead at the first change over but the Indonesians made a brief recovery, reducing the gap to 14-11. A fine smash from Chirag saw the Indians going 15-12 ahead.
    Ardianto and Alfian were able to take one point but from 17-13, the Indians reeled off four successive points to bag the first game.
    In the second game, the Indonesians took 1-0 lead and that was the only time they were ahead of the Indians though both sides were neck-to-neck for some time.
    Chirag pounced on a net rally to hit a powerful smash for a 3-1 lead but the Indonesians gave a tough fight to the Indians till the score was 9-8. But from there, the scale tilted gradually in favour of the Indians who ran away with the match.
    From 11-8 in the second change of ends, Satwik and Chirag were 12-8 ahead. After a brief fightback from the Indonesians, Satwik and Chirag took an 18-12 lead and then zoomed to 20-13 before sealing the match.
    Satwik said the win will be a confidence booster as he and Chirag were able to beat a top pair like Ardianto and Alfian.
    In the latest BWF world ranking for men's doubles, Ardianto and Alfian are placed at fourth spot while the Indians are one rung down at fifth.
    "We are currently playing at the highest level and today it was good confidence for us. It was a good match, playing against a top team. We really wanted to get the rhythm," Satwik said.
    "We got a break yesterday. In the first game, we could not control. Today we said calm down, we will play our game, we will see. We are really happy the way we played today," he added.
    In the women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto lost to Australia's Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu 15-21 10-21 in their final Group C game. They ended the campaign after losing all their three group matches.
    The Indians had lost to world number four Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida as well as to South Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in their earlier two matches.
    The two top-ranked pairs from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals. PTI PDS KHS UNG PDS 7/21/2024

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)