Satwik-Chirag pair tops group with win over Indonesian duo
Paris: Medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty notched up a dominating straight-game win against Indonesian duo of Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian to top Group C in men’s doubles badminton competition at the Paris Games here on Tuesday.
The third-seeded Satwik and Chirag beat their opponents 21-13 21-13 in the final group match that lasted just 38 minutes.
The Indian pair had qualified for the quarter-finals on Monday after the withdrawal of the German duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel and the lost suffered by Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France at the hands of Ardianto and Alfian combine.
Satwik and Chirag became the first Indians to reach the doubles quarter-finals in the Olympics. They will know their quarterfinals opponents when the draws are held on Wednesday.
“Really happy with the way we played today. More than topping the group, we wanted to get this win. It will boost our confidence. They (the Indonesian pair) are a top team and we really had tough fights against them earlier. So, we are happy,” Chirag said after the match.
The Indonesians qualified for the quarter-finals after finishing second in the group.
The third pair of Corvee and Labar were eliminated after losing both their matches.
The Group C competition was rendered a three-pair affair after Germans Lamsfuss and Seidel pulled out due to injury of the former.
The top two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the quarterfinals.
The Asian Games champion Indians completely dominated the match as they were in front throughout except at the beginning of the second game.
They were 11-8 ahead at the first change over but the Indonesians made a brief recovery, reducing
the gap to 14-11. A fine smash from Chirag saw the Indians going 15-12 ahead.
Ardianto and Alfian were able to take one point but from 17-13, the Indians reeled off four successive points to bag the first game.
In the second game, the Indonesians took 1-0 lead and that was the only time they were ahead of the Indians though both sides were neck-to-neck for some time.
Chirag pounced on a net rally to hit a powerful smash for a 3-1 lead but the Indonesians gave a tough fight to the Indians till the score was 9-8.
But from there, the scale tilted gradually in favour of the Indians who ran away with the match.
From 11-8 in the second change of ends, Satwik and Chirag were 12-8 ahead.
