NEW DELHI Late on Sunday, Lakshya Sen came to know that his win against Kevin Cordon will not count as the Guatemalan had withdrawn from the Paris Olympics due to a left elbow injury.

Though it doesn’t change much as he still had to beat his other two opponents in men’s singles Group L, the world No.18 will have spent more time on court, having played an extra match at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

But that didn’t seem to bother Sen as he came out on Monday to beat Belgian Julien Carraggi 21-19, 21-14 in 43 minutes to effectively win his first match of the tournament.

“I just took it as a practice match, now it is time for me to just focus on one match at a time. I will rest, recover and try to be at my best against Christie. I saw the news yesterday and there is nothing we could do. I wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he gets back soon. Other than that, I am really focussed on the next game,” Sen was quoted as saying by PTI.

The reigning Commonwealth Games champion has been starting slow in his matches, something that has become a habit in the last few months, also resulting in a few losses on the BWF World Tour.

Against world No.52 Carraggi too, Sen was slow off the blocks as he trailed for most of the first game. Sen trailed 8-12 and then 15-17 before finally finding his rhythm to draw level at 18-all and then clinch the game in 22 minutes.

Sen was back playing his normal game as he easily took a 8-2 and 11-4 lead in the second. Knowing that the shuttle was difficult to kill in slower conditions, he approached the net a lot more to finish points early as Carraggi had shown the ability to win the longer rallies.

With a half smash at the end, Sen closed the contest to earn his third win in as many meetings against the Belgian.

“It was a bit hard to find my rhythm in the first game. But I came back and towards the end I stuck in there. I did not try to play a perfect game but just retrieved more shots and attacked on my chances whenever I could,” Sen said.

“It was a good match today, especially in the first game. I’m happy with the way I converted (the points). In the second game, I was much more in control. I’m looking forward to the next game.”

Sen next faces Indonesian third seed, Asian and All England champion Jonatan Christie in a virtual Round of 32 contest on Wednesday as the winner will top the group and enter the last 16. Sen has beaten the world No.3 only once in five meetings – he lost the last four outings.

Satwik-Chirag in quarters

In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were due to play Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel but the former pulled out due to a knee injury.

Despite that, the third seeded Indian pair qualified for the quarter-finals after Indonesia’s reigning All England champions Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto beat French pair Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar. The local shuttlers had also lost to Rankireddy and Shetty on Saturday.

The world No.3 Indians will face the world No.7 Indonesians in a dead rubber on Tuesday. The reigning Asian Games champions hold a 3-2 head-to-head record, having won the last three contests.

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa went out of contention for a place in the women’s doubles quarter-finals after losing 11-21, 12-21 in 48 minutes to Japanese world No.4 and 2022 All England champions Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, the fourth seeds.

Crasto and Ponnappa will face Australians Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in an inconsequential contest on Tuesday with both pairs already eliminated.

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