Tokyo: India’s badminton campaign at the Tokyo Olympics got off to a mixed start with the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advancing to the next round while B Praneeth Sai losing in the qualifying round.
Despite being grouped in a rough Group A, the World No.10 pair Rankireddy-Shetty pair had defeated the third-seed Chinese Taipei duo Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin 16-21, 21-16, 25-27 in the 69-minute encounter.
The Indians started on a brilliant note winning the first set before the Chinese Taipei pair equalised clinching the second. However, Rankireddy and Shetty played a fantastic strategic game under the direction of their Danish coach Mathias Boe to emerge victoriously. They will next face the World No.1 Indonesian duo of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Meanwhile, also making his Olympics debut Sai Praneeth was defeated by Israel’s Misha Zilberman 17-21, 15-21 in straight sets during his opening Group D men’s singles encounter. The 13th seeded Indian will next face World N0. 29 Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands.
A 2019 World Championship bronze medallist, Sai Praneeth, and now ranked 15th raced to an 8-4 lead in the first game against the World No. 47 Zilberman. But the Israeli shuttler quickly turned the tables winning five straight points as the Indian committed unforced errors.
Sai Praneeth started off on a positive note in the second game, racing to a 7-3 lead, but a strong comeback by Zilberman saw the lower-ranked player take an 11-7 lead. However, under pressure, Praneeth allowed Zilberman to lead 15-13 before the Israeli zoomed to 19-14 and eventually the set. Zilberman continued his red-hot form in the second game too as Praneeth lacked confidence.
