Paris Olympics 2024, Badminton: Two-Time Medalist PV Sindhu Starts Her Campaign With Dominating 21-9, 21-6 Win – News18

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu, who is a two-time Olympic medalist, began her quest for a third medal on Sunday (July 28) with a 21-9, 21-6 win over Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives in the first Group M match of the women’s singles badminton competition.

The 25-year-old Maldivian badminton player was no match for Sindhu and the Indian went on to win the match in 29 minutes.

Sindhu, who became the first Indian female athlete to win an Olympic silver at the 2016 Rio Games, is looking to become India’s most successful individual athlete in the Summer Games’ history.

She has one silver (2016 Rio) and one bronze (2020 Tokyo) to her name.

READ MORE: India’s Full Schedule at Paris Olympics 2024 for July 28, 2024

In her second Group M match, Sindhu will now face Kristin Kuuba of Estonia on Wednesday (July 31).

In other badminton matches on Sunday, star men’s shuttler HS Prannoy will face Fabian Roth of Germany.

Earlier on Saturday (July 27), the star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signalled their intention with an easy straight-game victory in their opening group stage match. The third-seeded men’s doubles duo notched up a 21-17, 21-14 win against the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a Group C contest.

Satwik and Chirag will face Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany in their second match on Monday.

But the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto lost to South Koreans Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 18-21, 10-21, in a 44-minute Group C league match.

In the men’s singles category, Lakshya Sen also got his maiden Olympic campaign underway on a winning note. The 22-year-old from Almora beat Tokyo edition semifinalist Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 22-20 in a Group C match.

Sen, a gold medalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at the 2021 World Championships, will face Julien Carraggi of Belgium in his second group match on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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