India at Paris Olympics: Badminton Returns Blank for the First Time Since Beijing 2008 –

The Indian contingent ended their Paris Olympics 2024 with as many as six medals in four events. The number would have been over ten if not for some of our athletes coming agonizing close to a medal, eventually finishing 4th. One such heart-wrenching finish was witnessed in men’s singles badminton where Lakshya Sen faltered in the semis against reigning champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and conceded a one-game lead in the bronze medal match, against Malaysian Lee Zii Jia.

But even before Sen crashed out, the star-studded Indian badminton battery was already exhausted. PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Chirag-Swastik duo could only reach the quarters in their respective categories while Ashwini-Tanisha’s journey ended in the group stage itself. Sen also biting the dust meant India would go back home empty-handed for the first time since the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Saina Nehwal, who lost to Indonesia’s Maria Kristin Yulianti in the quarter-finals of the Beijing Games, had bounced back in London 2012 to win a bronze. Four years later, PV Sindhu scripted history with an Olympic silver and again made a podium finish in Tokyo 2020 with a bronze.

Comes 2024 when the Indian shuttlers hit the lowest in the Olympic games after 16 years. Let’s have a look at how they fared in Paris.

Ashwini and Tanisha lost their final Group C game

The duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto – Word No. 19 – qualified for the Paris Olympics over Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly. But they failed to go beyond the group stage in women’s doubles. Their campaign ended after losing to Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu 15-21, 10-21 in their final Group C Game.

HS Prannoy lost to Lakshya Sen in the quarters

Prannoy topped Group K in the men’s singles competition following his win against Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat. But his next game, in the Round of 16, was against Lakshya Sen. The latter was also in red-hot form and his victory over old nemesis Jonathan Christie made him one of the favourites.

The circumstances were such that only one India could advance to the next round and it was Sen who made it. Prannoy already had a bout of Chikungunya and with very little time to prepare for the tournament, he crashed out after losing to his countrymen.

PV Sindhu lost in the quarter-finals

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu failed to make a hat-trick in Paris after losing to China’s He Bing Jiao in the Round of 16. Sindhu had defeated the Chinese shuttler in Tokyo 2020 to win the bronze medal. However, Bing Jiao was the better player in Paris.

Haunted by injuries, Sindhu had not strung together enough success since the Tokyo Olympics. She suffered a stress fracture in her ankle in 2022 which kept her out of action for a brief period of time.

Satwik-Chirag’s disappointing exit

The biggest shock however not just for the Badminton contingent, but for the whole of the Indian contingent was the loss of the world-beater men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty in the quarter-finals. The Asian Games gold medallist and former World No.1 were seeded three at Paris and sure shot medal prospects for India. But their march towards the podium was halted by Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. The Malaysians were taken aback by the sheer passion and sharp attacking game from Satwik and Chirag. The game turned on its head after the first game as the Malaysians bagged the next two to book their place in the semis.

Following their loss, their coach Mathias Boe – a silver medal winner in the London Olympics – announced his retirement from coaching, stating, “My coaching days end here.”

Lakshya Sen

Sen’s terrific win against Christie has given the Indian fans and the country’s badminton fraternity a hope of a medal. His win against Prannoy solidified that hope even more. But in the next matches, he looked like to be losing the momentum.

He was outclassed by the brilliance of Exelsen and was expected to bounce back in the Bronze medal match against Zii Jia. He even started with a 1-0 lead and was ahead 8-3 in the second. But it all went in vain as the Malaysian made a startling comeback with eight straight points. There was no looking back from Zii Jia from there on while Sen lost despite getting close to a convincing win.

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