Paris Olympics: Satwiksairaj-Chirag Shetty pair avoids tough men’s doubles draw
India’s top-ranked men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has avoided a tough draw at Paris Olympics.
The draw ceremony for men’s doubles was held by the badminton world body on Monday, July 15 while the draws for the rest of the events in badminton were announced on Friday, July 12.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who are seeded third, will face the World No. 6 pairing of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia. Having drawn in Group C, the star shuttles will also have matches against world No. 31 German combination of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel and world No. 43 Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France in the group.
There are a total of 17 pairs who have earned Olympic berths in men’s doubles badminton. The pairs have been drawn into three groups of four each and one group of five. Satwik and Chirag managed to avoid Group D, which is being dubbed as the group of death. The only five-pair group features World No. 2 Kim Astrup-Anders Rasmussen of Denmark, World No. 7 Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, World No. 9 Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi of China and World No. 11 Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin of Taipei.
WHO WILL QUALIFY FOR QUARTERS?
Only the top two from each group will progress to the quarter-finals. A random draw will be held to determine the quarter-final line-up after the end of the group stage at the Paris Olympics.
Satwik and Chirag are one of the four seeded pairs along with top seeds Lian Wei Keng-Wang Chang (1) of China, Kang Ming Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae (4) of Korea and Astrup and Rasmussen of Denmark (2).
Satwik and Chirag, who agonisingly missed out on progressing past the group stage in Tokyo, will be keen on making a mark at the Paris Olympics. One of India’s biggest medal hopes, Satwik and Chirag have been in good form in the lead-up to the Games. Apart from becoming the first Indian pair to win an Asian Games Gold medal last year, Satwik and Chirag won the Thailand Open and French Open Super 750 in May.
Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were handed relatively easy group stage draws in singles while Lakshya Sen faces a tough test in the group stage.