Badminton: Injury withdrawals affect Lakshya Sen and Sat-Chi at Paris Olympics 2024

India’s Satwik-Chirag have faced a similar setback to Lakshya Sen, as their second group match scheduled for Monday, 29 July, has been cancelled. The cancellation follows the withdrawal of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel from the competition, with Lamsfuss suffering a knee injury. Consequently, Satwik-Chirag’s result for this match will now be deemed null and void.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Monday morning that Lamsfuss would not be competing and extended their wishes for his speedy recovery. This withdrawal also affects the French pair Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar, as their match against the German duo has also been declared void.

“German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury,” stated the BWF. “Lamsfuss and teammate Marvin Seidel’s remaining Group C matches against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court 3, 8.30am local time, 29 July 2024) and Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar of France (Court 1, ‘Not Before’ 2.50pm local time, 30 July 2024) will not be played.”

“The results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving Group C are now considered null and void,” the BWF’s statement continued.

Lakshya Sen is particularly affected, as his win over Kevin Cordon was annulled following Cordon’s withdrawal due to injury. This leaves Lakshya in a difficult position: with Cordon's exit and the BWF’s decision, Lakshya will be the only player in his group to have played three matches, while Jonatan Christie and Julien Carraggi will each have only two matches. Lakshya’s next match is against Carraggi on 29 July.