EXPLAINED: Why Lakhsya Sen's first win in Paris Olympics 2024 has been 'deleted' from records

One of India’s strong medal contenders, 22-year-old Lakshya Sen faced a major blow despite starting his Paris Olympics 2024 campaign with a win. In the men's singles Group L match, Sen beat Guatemala's Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20. However, the match has been ‘deleted’ from Paris Olympics 2024 record books.
 

The match has been deleted, because Cordon pulled out of Paris Olympics 2024 after the loss. The Guatemalan shuttler suffered an elbow injury during the match. His remaining two group stage games will not take place.
 

As Cordon has pulled out of Paris Olympics 2024, the Group L has now become a three-player group. Sen’s one point will not count. As per BWF General Competition Regulations, if a player withdraws from the tournament during the group stages, all previous matches of player get automatically deleted.
 

On the other hand, the other two shuttlers in the group -- Belgium's Joel Caraggi and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie – will play two games each instead of three. This means that Sen will end up playing an extra match than Caraggi and Christie. Sen is scheduled to take on Christie on July 29. His last group stage match will be on July 31 against Belgium.
 

Tough fixture ahead for Sen

Christie is at the top of the group having defeated Caraggi. Christie started his campaign with a 18-21, 21-11, 21-16 win. Sen’s match against Christie will be a high voltage one as the latter is a number three seed. 

ALSO READ: Paris Olympics: Manu Bhaker scripts history, opens India's medal tally with coveted bronze in shooting
 

Hard-earned win after easy first game

Earlier, Sen beat Cordon in just 42 minutes. Facing him for the first time since 2021 World Championship, Sen took a big lead early on. He was leading by 9-1 as Cordon could not cope with Sen's rapid smashes. In the second-half, Cordon made a comeback but could not pose a real threat.

ALSO READ: Paris Olympics: Manika Batra off to a winning start in table tennis women's singles, defeats Great Britain's Hursey Anna
 

Cordon gained some confidence in the second game and won the opening point. He caught Sen off-guard and was leading by 14-8. The match was set to go into third game as Cordon took it to 20-16. But Sen was able to make a comeback and win the second game 22-20 by bagging six consecutive points.
 

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