Lakshya Sen in action© AFP
India shuttler Lakshya Sen defeated Julien Carraggi of Belgium in the Group L men's singles badminton match at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Monday. The Indian defeated his Belgian opponent in straight sets 21-19, 21-14 win. The match lasted for 43 minutes at the La Chapelle Arena. Lakshya turned over a four-point deficit to clinch the first game, and was in full command in the second over Carraggi. On Sunday, Lakshya's dominating win over Guatemala's Kevin Cordon in the badminton men's singles Group L match was "deleted" after the Guatemalan pulled out of the multi-sport event due to a left elbow injury.
According to Olympics.com, Cordon withdrew himself from the ongoing Paris Olympics for which his upcoming Group L matches against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie and Belgium's Julien Carraggi will not be played.
As per the BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the result from the match between Lakshya Sen and Kevin Cordon was deleted.
The Indian shuttler will be ranked based on the results of his remaining two matches in Group L. On Saturday, Lakshya defeated Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20. Lakshya won in straight sets with the match lasting 42 minutes.
The Indian shuttler got off to a flying start after winning the first game 21-8 in 14 minutes. Cordon pulled things back, taking a commanding lead in the second and had four game points. However, the 22-year-old Indian turned things around by winning six points in a row to wrap up the game and match.
India's campaign in women's doubles badminton at the Paris Olympics 2024 came under serious trouble as the pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa were defeated by the world number four pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan on Monday.
Crasto and Ponnappa lost to the world number four pair by 11-21, 12-21 in a one-sided second Group C clash.