Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya win; Ponnappa-Crasto lose

Medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signalled their intentions with an easy straight-games victory in their opening group stage men's doubles match after singles ace Lakshya Sen got his maiden Olympics campaign underway on a winning note on Saturday.

The third-seeded Indian pair, the reigning Asian Games champions, scored a 21-17, 21-14 victory over the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a Group C match.

Satwik and Chirag will meet Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel in next second match on Monday.

Earlier, Sen beat Tokyo Games semi-finalist Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 22-20 in a Group C men's singles match.

Later in the day, the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto lost to South Korea's Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 18-21, 10-21 in 44 minutes in a Group C league match.

Sen got off the a rousing start and needed just 14 minutes to win the first game. Cordon, who is ranked world No. 41 and finished fourth in the Tokyo Olympics, was no match for the 22-year-old Indian as he committed many unforced errors.

However, the reigning Pan American champion came back strongly in the second game, racing to a 4-1 lead, which he extended to 11-6 at the break.

After the change of ends though it was the world No. 19-ranked Indian who dazzled even though the Guatemalan stayed ahead and was just a point away from taking the match to the decider at 20-16.

With legends Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar backing him from the courtside, Sen reeled off four straight points to level the score at 20-20 and then won the next two points to seal the contest in 42 minutes.

Sen, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at 2021 World Championships, will take on world No. 52 Julien Carraggi of Belgium on Monday in his second group match.

Also drawn in the same group is Indonesia's Jonatan Christie, who is ranked  No. 3.

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024