Paris Olympics 2024: Amidst good show from others, Ponnappa-Crasto outplayed

Sindhu returns to Maldives’ Fathimath Abdul Razzaq yesterday. Pic/PTI

India's campaign in the badminton events got off to the expected start, with all three singles exponents - Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu - and the crack men's doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty notching up comfortable victories, but the women's doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto coming a cropper at the hands of Koreans Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.

Germany's Fabian Roth, ranked 82nd in the world, gave Prannoy a bit of a scare in the opening game of their Group K encounter on the Porte de la Chapelle courts in Paris. The towering 6'3" German, basically a journeyman on the international badminton circuit, used his height and long reach to constantly attack the net and move the shuttle into the corners where Prannoy, just a mite slow after his recent attack of chikungunya, was caught off-balance.

Prannoy bounces back

Roth, in fact, seemed to have the first game under control with a 16-13 lead before the 32-year-old Indian, heeding Pullela Gopichand and RMV Gurusaidutt's shouted advice from the coaches' chair, pushed his opponent back to the baseline and finished off the rallies with some sharp sideline smashes that were earlier going out by a couple of inches. Prannoy was much more in control in the second game, settling well into the match, playing the net better and defending well to secure a 21-18, 21-12 victory.

Earlier in the day, Sindhu did not even have to raise a sweat as she decimated the tepid challenge of Maldivian World No. 111, Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq, by a comprehensive 21-9, 21-6 scoreline. The willowy Indian will need to put it across Estonia's 74th ranked Kristin Kuuba in her final group match, before she can ponder upon her potentially tough pre-quarter-final clash with Chinese left-hander He Bing Jiao.

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Sen in full cry

As for Sen on Saturday, he was in full cry in the first game of his ‘Group of Death' clash against Kevin Cordon, the left-handed Guatemalan veteran who was playing his fifth Olympics. Clearly, Sen's legs had far more speed than those of the 37-year-old, who had sensationally reached the semi-finals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but missed out on a bronze in the playoff with Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

But the youthful Indian got a taste of what the old southpaw was capable of, as Cordon built up strong leads of 16-10 and 20-16 before Lakshya got his act together and grabbed the final six points of the match, for a heartening 21-8, 22-20 triumph.

The women's doubles proved to be a huge disappointment. Ponnappa and Crasto made a bright start against Koreans Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong, before they were outmanoeuvred and outplayed for a 18-21, 10-21 verdict. They will have to pull out all stops if they hope to remain in contention for the quarter-finals, since their next match is against the No.4 seeds from Japan, Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.