Indian badminton player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on Saturday said he and his partner Chirag Shetty focussed on sticking to the basics in their opening match of Group Stage here in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
Men's doubles pair of Chirag and Satwiksairaj on Saturday won their opening Group Stage match. The Indian duo defeated Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin 21-16, 16-21, 27-25 in the Group A game at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 3.
"I was thinking we don't want to put pressure on ourselves. We had made some mistakes in the past few tournaments, especially at the closing stages. We wanted to stick to the basics, just serve and get ready, let them earn the point. We just wanted to come here and enjoy our first Olympics. It doesn't matter who you are playing," Badminton World Federation (BWF) quoted Satwiksairaj as saying.
On the other hand, Chirag said, "They are the pair to beat as they won back-to-back events in Thailand. We didn't do well in the Swiss Open and All England. Really happy to come here and win our first match."
Talking about the defeat in the opening round, Wang Chi-Lin said, "We were nervous in the beginning, and we changed our style in the second game. We didn't feel any pressure, but we feel we have to play much better than we did today. We are in a tough group, so we have to step up our level."
Chirag and Satwik took the first game 21-16, and the Indian duo brought their A-game to the court, and the Chinese Taipei duo had no answers to what was being thrown at them.
However, Lee and Wang staged a comeback in the second game, and they won it 21-16, sending the match into the third and deciding game.
Chirag and Satwik rose to the occasion in the third game, and they ended up winning it, making a perfect start to the competition. The Chinese Taipei pair provided a tough fight, but it did not prove enough.
( With inputs from ANI )
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