French Open Badminton 2024: Satwik-Chirag, Treesa-Gayatri & Lakshya Sen Reach Second Round

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India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Lakshya Sen on Tuesday (march 5) advanced to the second round of French Open Badminton 2024 tournament following hard-fought wins at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France.

The top seeds Satwik and Chirag registered straight-games win against Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi. The world number 1 Indian pair, who had claimed the title in 2022, defeated the world no. 12 Malaysian combination 21-13 24-22 in 47 minutes.

The top Indian doubles pair, who finished second best in their last three tournaments, will face another Malaysian pair of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee in the second round on Thursday (March 7).

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Jolly and Gopichand claimed a 16-21 21-19 21-17 win over compatriots Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in an all-Indian opening match in women's doubles.

The two pairs are fighting to qualify for the Paris Olympics. While Tanisha-Ashwini are ranked 11th, Treesa-Gayatri are placed at 14th spot in the Olympic Games qualification ranking.

Treesa and Gayatri, who played a vital role in the Indian women's side epic win at the Badminton Asia Team Championships last month, will next face seventh seed Japanese pair Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the next round on Thursday (March 7).

Later in the day, Lakshya Sen fought back from a game down to overcome Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama by a scoreline of 15-21, 21-15, 21-3 in an hour and 3 minutes to reach the men's singles second round.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sen will next face third seed Li Shi Feng in the next round on Thursday (March 7). However, it was an early exit for Priyanshu Rajawat, who went down in straight games 8-21, 15-21 to top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will open their respective singles campaigns on Wednesday (March 6). While Sindhu faces Canadian Michelle Li in the women's singles opener, Srikanth meets Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien-chen, and Prannoy faces Lu Guang Zu of China.