Bengaluru, July 24: After B Sai Praneeth's disappointing debut, Chirag Shetty and Satwisairaj Rankireddy gave the Indian badminton camp something to cheer for as they made a memorable debut, beating World no. 3 Chinese pair of L Yang and W CHi on day 2 of the Olympics.
Facing the dominating Chinese pair, the Indian shuttlers outshone their opponents, defeating them 21-16, 16-21, 27-25.
Earlier, in a rocky start to India's badminton campaign, the country's only player in the men's singles event in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, B Sai Praneeth suffered a stunning defeat to a much-lower ranked opponent on Saturday.
Indian shuttler Praneeth, making his Olympic debut, lost to Israel's Misha Zilmerman on the second day of the Tokyo Olympics.
Praneeth lost to Zilmerman 17-21, 15-21 in his first Group D game in the men's singles in under 42 minutes. The Indian shuttler failed to capitalise on a good start as he went down to Zilmarman in straight games.
India's badminton campaign got off to a losing start as Praneeth, who had a 3-0 head-to-head against the Israel shuttler, fell to a shocking loss to 32-year-old Zilmerman.
𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊 🙌🏻@SaiPraneeth making his Olympic debut went down against 🇮🇱's Misha Zilberman 17-21, 15-21 in his first group stage match. #SmashfortheGlory#badminton#Tokyo2020#OlympicGames#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/JrlvOiW9hM
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 24, 2021
Misha, who had lost in their previous meeting this year, never let Praneeth get into the game as the Indian shuttler looked out of sorts throughout the match. Praneeth failed to capitalise on a good start, as Misha took the first game 21-17.
In the second game as well, Sai got off on a positive note, racing to a 7-3 lead, but a strong comeback by Misha, saw the lower-ranked player take an 11-7 lead in the second game, before wrapping it up 21-15.