In a historic achievement on Monday, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became the first Indian badminton pair to advance to the Olympic quarterfinals. Their scheduled clash with Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel didn't happen, as Lamsfuss was forced to withdraw from the Games due to an injury.
India’s star badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made history on Monday by becoming the country’s first pair to qualify for the Olympics quarterfinals. The Indian pair was scheduled to battle against Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel from Germany; however, Lamsfuss’ ailment forced the pair to withdraw from the Olympics, resulting in the match being canceled.
The road to the quarterfinals began with a victory over France's Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar. After the French duo lost their next match to Indonesia's Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian, they were eliminated from the tournament. Now, only the Indian and Indonesian pairs remain at the top of Group C, and they are set to face each other on Tuesday to decide the group winner.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) officially announced that the German team would not compete in their remaining Group C matches against India and France. This decision came after Mark Lamsfuss had to withdraw from the Paris 2024 Olympics because of a knee injury.
On a tougher note for India, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto are likely out of the competition after losing two games in a row in the women's doubles category. In a one-sided 48-minute battle on Monday, they were beaten 11-21, 12-21 by the world number four pair from Japan, Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
The duo's struggles continued after an initial loss to South Korea's Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong. Despite being ranked 19th globally, Ponnappa and Crasto currently sit third in their group, behind Japan and South Korea. Since only the top two teams from each group move on to the quarterfinals, their position is precarious.
Their final group match will be against Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu from Australia. Throughout their previous game, the Indians struggled to find any momentum or put pressure on their opponents. The Japanese pair controlled the match from the opening serve, quickly jumping to a 4-0 lead following a long rally by Crasto.
Although the veteran Ponnappa managed to land a smash for India's first point and Crasto added another with a body smash to make it 2-7, the game remained largely one-sided. The Japanese duo stayed in control for the rest of the match to secure their victory.