Medal favourite Satwik-Chirag pair ousted from Olympics

Paris: Medal hopefuls Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy faltered under duress to make an unexpected quarterfinal exit, as India's badminton campaign collapsed at the Paris Olympics.

Lakshya Sen was the lone Indian remaining in the medal hunt after emerging winner in an all-Indian contest against an indisposed HS Prannoy.

Considered a big medal prospect, the third-seeded Indians led 14-11 in the decider but they couldn’t deal with the service variations from world number three Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik and made too many mistakes under pressure to make an unexpected exit from the Games.

Coming into the match with three successive wins against their Malaysian rivals, Satwik and Chirag lost 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a tense quarterfinal.

“In the end, we gave away quite a few easy points. A few lucky ones for them, where we didn’t really expect those serves. They kept poking us slightly. Towards the end, there were a couple of points that hit the net chord and a few one-two errors (made the difference), ” Chirag said.

Aaron and Chia had defeated the Indians eight times on the trot before the Indians broke their winning streak but none would hurt more than Thursday’s loss that came on the world’s biggest stage.

Carrying a billion hopes, Satwik and Chirag, the former world number one, bulldozed the Malaysians in the opening game but Aaron and Soh changed the tactics, playing a more flat-fast game.

The Indians not only peppered the former champions with booming smashes from the back but also dished out angled returns at a high pace.

In the second game, the Indians opened up a 4-0 lead but it became a neck-and-neck battle. They were locked 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 one onto the net. The Indians fell behind 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 like a better pair in the decider. The Indians tried to slow down the rallies but the Malaysians engaged them in flat and fast exchanges. From 14-11 in India’s favour, it became 16-16. The Indians looked nervous as a variation of serve from Aaron bamboozled Chirag, who made a judgement error while receiving. Malaysians soon grabbed a four-point match point and sealed it when Satwik netted a return.

“We should have been a little more calmer in those situations. Having said that, I think at 14-11, at a point or two, we got quite unlucky. Satwik touched the shuttle with his legs, which bounced off the net. And then he served through, which was totally unexpected,” said Chirag.

He admitted that pressure got to them as they looked in a hurry to finish the points.

“It depends on the score as well. When we were very comfortable in the first game, we didn’t miss those. When we are leading, when we are playing confidently, we never miss those shots. So, it was a pressure mistake.

“They kept on playing really good in the 1-2-3-4 strokes, which we couldn’t handle it well today.” Satwik also struggled to explain what hit them today as they could not handle the nerves.

“We played Asian games also. We played Thomas Cup finals. We have dealt big, big matches. It’s on the mental side not to take so much on to the court.”

Sen trumps indisposed Prannoy

Sen had no problem in registering a comfortable 21-12 21-6 win over Prannoy, who had very little time to prepare after being laid low by a bout of Chikungunya.

“I just had a week to prepare. My team pushed me so that I could compete. I knew it was going to be tough,” Prannoy said and left wiping his tears with his towel.

Sen became the third male Indian player to make the quarterfinals after Parupalli Kashyap (2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (2016).

Sen will face Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.

“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.

With PTI inputs