Medal favourite Satwik-Chirag buckle under pressure, Sindhu also ousted

Paris: India's badminton campaign crumbled at the Paris Olympics with medal contenders Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy wilting under pressure to make a shock quarterfinal exit and PV Sindhu falling to China's He Bin Jiao in the women's singles pre-quarterfinals, here Thursday.

Lakshya Sen was the lone Indian remaining in the medal hunt after emerging winner in an all-Indian contest against an indisposed HS Prannoy.

Considered a big medal prospect, the third-seeded Indians led 14-11 in the decider but they couldn't deal with the service variations from world number three Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik and made too many mistakes under pressure to make an unexpected exit from the Games.

Coming into the match with three successive wins against their Malaysian rivals, Satwik and Chirag lost 21-13 14-21 16-21 in a tense quarterfinal.

"In the end, we gave away quite a few easy points. A few lucky ones for them, where we didn't really expect those serves. They kept poking us slightly. Towards the end, there were a couple of points that hit the net chord and a few one-two errors (made the difference), " Chirag said.

Sindhu, who was gunning for her third Olympic medal, lost 19-21 14-21, to the world number 9 from China.

The Indian could play well only in patches, while Bing Jiao kept a tight grip over the match with her consistent attack. The unending unforced errors cost Sindhu dear.

The Chinese dictated the initial points as Sindhu took some time to find her rhythm.

She moved Sindhu on both flanks and drew her forward with delicate touches, forcing laboured returns to set up easy winners.

The cross-court returns, the court movement was splendid from the left-handed Bing Jiao, who raced to a 8-3 lead.

Sindhu put up a semblance of a fight with better returns, especially the cross-court shots to not only reduce the deficit but also level the score at 12-12.

Bing Jiao played some brilliant body smashes to log points even as Sindhu tried to engage her rival with longer rallies.

The score became 19-19 and it was anybody's game from there. The southpaw fired a smash on the forehand side to earn her first game point and sealed it with a similar shot.

In the second game too, Bing Jiao induced unforced errors from Sindhu to build a 5-2 lead. Sindhu held the edge in longer rallies but they were far and few. The gap kept increasing, and Sindhu was now dealing with a huge 5-11 deficit.

Bing Jiao's court coverage was incredible. She made returns even after losing balance, while Sindhu lost those points despite dictating them. The Chinese had a healthy 18-11 lead. An error of judgement from Sindhu gave Chinese seven match points and she converted on the second chance when Sindhu's return landed outside the side lines.

DOUBLES DEFEAT

Aaron and Chia had defeated the Indians eight times on the trot before the Indians broke their winning streak but none would hurt more than Thursday's loss that came on the world's biggest stage.

Carrying a billion hope, Satwik and Chirag, the former world number one, bulldozed the Malaysians in the opening game but Aaron and Soh changed the tactics, playing a more flat-fast game.

The Indians not only peppered the former champions with booming smashes from the back but also dished out angled returns at a high pace.

In the second game, the Indians opened up a 4-0 lead but it became a neck-and-neck battle. They were locked 10-10 before Aaron's smash gave them a one-point cushion.

The Malaysians started varying the serve and their flat fast game reaped dividends as they eked out a 16-12 lead with Chirag making a judgement error and also spraying one onto the net. The Indians fell behind 13-17.

Satwik then floated one wide and another error at the net by Chirag gave six game points to the Malaysian, who sealed it at the first chance.

Aaron and Soh looked better pair in the decider. The Indians tried to slow down the rallies but the Malaysians engaged them in flat and fast exchanges. From 14-11 in India's favour, it became 16-16. The Indians looked nervous as a variation of serve from Aaron bamboozled Chirag, who made a judgement error while receiving. Malaysians soon grabbed a four-point match point and sealed it when Satwik netted a return.

"We should have been a little more calmer in those situations. Having said that, I think at 14-11, at a point or two, we got quite unlucky. Satwik touched the shuttle with his legs, which bounced off the net. And then he served through which was totally unexpected," said Chirag.

He admitted that pressure got to them as they looked in a hurry to finish the points.

"It depends on the score as well. When we were very comfortable in the first game, we didn't miss those. When we are leading, when we are playing confidently, we never miss those shots. So, it was a pressure mistake.

"They kept on playing really good in the 1-2-3-4 strokes, which we couldn't handle it well today." Satwik also struggled to explain what hit them today as they could not handle the nerves.

"We played Asian games also. We played Thomas Cup finals. We have dealt big, big matches. It's on the mental side not to take so much on to the court."

Sen trumps indisposed Prannoy

Sen had no problem in registering a comfortable 21-12 21-6 win over Prannoy, who had very little time to prepare after being laid low by a bout of Chikungunya.

"I just had a week to prepare. My team pushed me so that I could compete. I knew it was going to be tough," Prannoy said and left wiping his tears with his towel.

Sen became the third male Indian player to make the quarterfinals after Parupalli Kashyap (2012) and Kidambi Srikanth (2016).

Sen will face Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.

"It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 percent," Sen said after the match.