Paris Olympics: Satwiksairaj-Chirag’s second round match cancelled, face Indonesian pair in must-win match

Paris [France], July 29 (ANI): The star Indian men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be hoping to continue with their winning momentum at the Paris Olympics, despite their second Group C match against Germany’s Marvin Seidel and Mark Lamsfuss being cancelled due to Mark facing a knee injury, making their third game a must-win one.

As per a statement from Badminton World Federation (BWF), Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury.

“Lamsfuss’ and teammate Marvin Seidel’s remaining Group C matches against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court 3, 8.30am local time, 29 July 2024) and Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar of France (Court 1, ‘Not Before’ 2.50pm local time, 30 July 2024) will not be played. Matches on these courts in each respective session have been rescheduled. As per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving in Group C are now considered deleted,” added the statement.

‘Sat-Chi’ started their Paris Olympics voyage with a win over France’s Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-17, 21-14 in the men’s doubles Group C match on Saturday.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag defeated Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a straight games and ended the match in 46 minutes.

The French pair fought hard with the support of the home crowd, but the star Indian duo eventually sailed through.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were supposed to lock horns with world number 31 and 2022 European Badminton men’s doubles champions Marvin and Mark, but an injury has led to the cancellation of the match.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag’s next opponents will be the Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto on Tuesday. This match will be a must win for the Indian duo as it is their last game before the quarterfinals.

The Indonesia duo was formerly a number one pair and is currently ranked seven. Both secured world championship bronze medals in the 2019 and 2022 editions of the competition and were also a part of the 2020 Thomas Cup winning Indonesian team.

Both of these teams have clashed five times, with the Indian pair having a slight edge with three wins and two losses. In their recent clash at the Korean Open 2023 final, Sat-Chi had prevailed.

Satwiksairaj, along with his men’s doubles partner Chirag Shetty, are perhaps the strongest contenders for a medal.

This year, the popular men’s doubles pair, also known as ‘Sat-Chi’, have won two Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour titles, the French Open title in March 2024 and the Thailand Open 2024 in May 2024. They also finished as runners-up in the Malaysian Open and India Open.

They were also a part of the Indian team that played in the Thomas Cup 2024 as the defending champions. However, they could not defend the title as they lost to the eventual champions, China, by 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

With a peak of number one ranking in men’s doubles competition, several BWF Tour titles, the World Championships men’s doubles bronze medal in 2022, gold in men’s doubles competition at Commonwealth Games 2022 and Asian Games Hangzhou the following year and silver medals in mixed team events at these two events, Satwiksairaj-Chirag have a huge cabinet of medals and accomplishments supporting the claim of them being a leading medal contender.