Hat-trick of medals will be tough for Sindhu

Shortly after noon (around 4:30 pm, IST) on Saturday, India's ace shuttler Pusarla Venkata Sindhu will open her bid for a hat-trick of Olympic medals by stepping on to the Porte de la Chapelle courts in Paris against Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives, a rank minnow at 111 in the Badminton World
Federation (BWF) women's singles rankings.

PV seeded 10th

For the 10th-seed Indian, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games, the round-robin Group M outing against the 25-year-old Maldivian, four years her junior, should be a breeze. It is equally unlikely that Sindhu will be tested in her second and final group clash against World No. 74 Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. But from that point onwards, Sindhu will have her work cut out. In the round of 16 she could be up against No. 6 seed, China's He Bing Jiao, whom she had tamed in the bronze medal play-off at the Tokyo Olympics. The Chinese left-hander is a far improved player from what she was three years ago, while Sindhu has had an ordinary season in 2024, before desperately seeking the help of 1980 All England champion, Prakash Padukone, in her quest for an unprecedented third Olympic medal.

As a player, who reserves her best for the big events, Sindhu certainly has it in her to cut He (pronounced Huh) down to size, and to take on Chinese defending champion and No. 2 seed, Chen Yu Fei, in the quarter-finals. Having literally decimated Chen at 21-7, 21-14 in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Championships in Basel, when she was at her devastating, aggressive best, the lanky Indian could well serve up a repeat performance, to get that third Olympic medal firmly in her sights.

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Satwik-Chirag looking great

The other stellar Indian entry in Paris, the former World No. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, are bracketed in Group C with the Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Frenchmen Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar, and Germans Marvin Siedel and Mark Lamfuss. World No. 3 Satwik and Chirag should have little difficulty getting past the French and German combinations, but won't have it easy against the mercurial Indonesians, presently World No. 6. The Indians have a slim 3-2 lead against Alfian-Ardianto in career meetings, but even if they happen to lose, they would still advance because two pairs from each group move into the play-offs.

India have two entries in the men's singles draw, by virtue of Lakshya Sen making the top 16 stage of the world rankings in the company of HS Prannoy, ranked No. 13.

While Prannoy should go through from Group K, which features Germany's Fabian Roth and Vietnam's Le Duc Phat, Lakshya has no free lunches. He will have to contend with World No. 3 and reigning All England champion, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, and former Olympic bronze medallist, Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in Group L. Christie goes into the match against Lakshya with a 4-1 head-to-head record. And, in what will be a most unkind situation, if Prannoy and Lakshya win their respective groups, they will face each other in the round of 16.

Tanisha-Ashwini face Japan

In the women's doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa have been drawn in Group C where they will take on Japan's fourth-seed Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida. If they hope to progress to the play-offs, Tanisha-Ashwini will have to win at least two matches. Koreans Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong, and Australians Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu are the other two pairs in their group.