India’s star badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made history on Monday by becoming the country’s first pair to qualify for the Olympics quarterfinals. The Indian pair was scheduled to battle against Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel from Germany; however, Lamsfuss’ ailment forced the pair to withdraw from the Olympics, resulting in the match being canceled.

Chirag and Satwik began their Olympic campaign by defeating Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France. On Monday, Corvee and Labar were defeated by Indonesian pair Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian. After two losses, the French pair were eliminated, and Chirag-Satwik and Ardianto-Alfian will finish in the top two of Group C. The Indian and Indonesian pairs will face off on Tuesday to determine the group’s top spot.

Earlier, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) issued a statement stating that the German pair’s remaining games in Group C against India (on Monday) and France (on Tuesday) will ‘not be played’. German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury, the BWF statement read.

Meanwhile, India’s Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto are headed for an early exit after losing their second consecutive group stage match in the women’s doubles badminton category at the Paris Olympics on Monday. In the 48-minute Group C match, the Indians were defeated 11-21, 12-21 by the world number four Japanese team of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.

The Indians had lost their first match against South Korea’s Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong. Ponnappa and Crasto, the world’s number 19, are presently rated third in their group, trailing only the Japanese and South Koreans. The two top-ranked pairs from each group advance to the quarterfinals.

Ponnappa and Crasto will face Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in their last group game. The Indians were unable to apply any scoreboard pressure on their opponents, as they were never able to seize the lead or even pull even. The Japanese combination, on the other hand, dominated the game from the start, rushing to a 4-0 lead after Crasto scored a lengthy rally.

The experienced Ponnappa hit a smash to gain India’s first point, and Crasto followed suit with a body smash to make it 2- 7. But it was mostly one-way traffic from then, as the Japanese maintained extending their lead to win the game.