Paris Olympics 2024 Badminton: HS Prannoy gifted straightforward start, Lakshya Sen placed alongside Jonatan Christie in group stage matches

The men's singles draw for badminton at the Paris Olympics is out, and Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen have run into drastically different fates. While Prannoy has been handed a group stage draw equal to a cakewalk, Sen will have to navigate slightly trickier waters in his campaign.

Prannoy, the World Championships and Asian Games bronze-medalist, goes into the competition as the 13th seed and has been placed in Group K alongside Vietnam's Le Duc Phat and Germany’s Fabian Roth. Phat is the current World No. 70, while Roth is ranked 82nd.

Prannay has never faced the two players on the BWF circuit prior to their upcoming Paris Olympics, but is nearly guaranteed to cruise past the Vietnamese and the German.

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Paris Olympics Badminton: Lakshya Sen placed in Group L alongside Jonatan Christie

While Indian badminton fans cheer for 13th seed HS Prannoy’s easy draw, there is some apprehension for Lakshya Sen, as he will have to work his way through Group L, which consists of third seed Jonatan Christie. Also in the group alongside Sen and Christie are Kevin Cordon and Julien Carraggi.

Sen and Christie have previously clashed swords five times, with the Indian getting the better of his Indonesian counterpart only once at the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships. Since then, the duo have battled four times, with Christie emerging on top in each instance.

The other two players Sen will face in his group stage matches of the Paris Olympics aren't to be underestimated either. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, an unseeded Kevin Cordon made it to the semifinals, taking down eighth seed Ng Ka Long on his way there.

On the other hand, while the head-to-head comparisons between Lakshya Sen and Julien Carraggi read 2-0 in the Indian's favor, Carragi has managed to push Sen to three games both times.