India at Paris Olympics: Badminton players shine amid table tennis losses

Indian badminton heavyweights PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles events, respectively, with dominant wins at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday (July 31).

World No. 13 HS Prannoy, a world championships and Asian Games bronze medallist, staved off a spirited challenge from World No. 70 Le Duc Phat of Vietnam 16-21 21-11 21-12 in a 62-minute battle later in the day.

Chasing an unprecedented third Olympic medal, Sindhu did not have to toil much before getting past Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 21-5 21-10 in her second and last Group M match, while Sen was simply sensational in his 21-18 21-12 thrashing of Indonesia's world number 4 Jonatan Christie, the reigning All England and Asian champion.

All-Indian contest next

While Sen will face Prannoy in an all-Indian contest next, Sindhu is likely to be up against world number 9 Chinese He Bingjiao, against whom she has lost 11 times and won on nine occasions.

It must be mentioned that Sindhu had beaten the Chinese on way to her bronze medal in Tokyo Games.

The only time Sen had defeated Christie was four years ago at the Badminton Asia Team Championships and came into this match with a dismal 1-4 head-to-head count.

However, Sen showed great maturity and tactical acumen as he tried to keep the shuttle flat and targeted the weak forehand of Christie, who looked to slow down the rallies and used his cross-court shots at the corners to trouble the Indian, albeit without much success.

Curtains on table tennis singles

However, curtains fell on India’s historic singles table tennis campaign following Manika Batra’s meek surrender against higher-ranked Japanese Miu Hirano and Sreeja Akula’s fighting loss against world number one Yingshaw Sun on her bitter-sweet birthday.

Never ever India had two singles players competing for quarterfinals berths but seasoned Manika and Sreeja showed that TT had potential to do better at the big stage by reaching the Round of 16.

Both the players had chances to take games against their superior rivals but lacked consistency and finishing skill and eventually fell by the wayside.

Manika had become the first Indian to progress to the pre-quarterfinals at the Olympic Games on Monday and Sreeja, who turned 26 on Wednesday, joined her senior colleague in the Round of 16 with a 4-2 win over Singapore's Jian Zeng.

Up against Miu, who has been in tremendous form, Manika lost 6-11 9-11 14-12 8-11 6-11, while later in the day Sreeja produced a valiant fight against Sun before losing 10-12 10-12 8-11 3-11 in her Round of 16.

Indian players will now compete in the team events.

Boxer Nishant in quarterfinals

In boxing, Nishant Dev entered the quarterfinals of the 71kg men’s competition, defeating Jose Gabriel Rodriguez Tenorio of Ecuador at the Paris Olympics here on Wednesday.

Dev won the contest 3-2 via a split decision.

Dev started the bout on an aggressive note, landing straight and precise punches on his opponent to win the first round comfortably.

But the Ecuadorian saved his best for the last as Dev looked a bit tired to take the contest to the wire.

But in the end, the Indian did enough to defend his score and secure a place in the last-eight round.

(With agency inputs)