New Delhi: Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy met ace tennis player Rafael Nadal at the Paris Olympic village ahead of the prestigious event, starting on July 26. Five members of the Indian badminton contingent bound for Paris Olympics arrived at the village on Monday (July 21).
Top-ranked men’s singles Indian player HS Prannoy along with the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj-Chirag Shetty and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto reached the French capital just five days before the opening ceremony.
Hours after reaching the Olympics village, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy posted a picture with 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal. He wrote in the story ‘With the beast’ and ‘Day 1 of Olympic village’, and also tagged the official Instagram handle of the Spaniard.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy meets Rafael Nadal. (Photo: Screengrab)
The 38-year-old Rafael Nadal will bid for a third Olympics medal after bagging gold medals in men’s singles at Beijing Olympics 2008 and men’s doubles at Rio Olympics 2016 along with Marc Lopez. He will compete in men’s singles and partner prodigious talent Carlos Alcaraz in men’s doubles at the Summer Games this time.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy India’s best bet to win badminton medal
World No.3 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are seeded third in the men’s doubles event at the Paris Olympics. The ‘Brothers of Destruction’ are drawn in Group C where they will face Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian (World No.6), German pair of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel (World No.31), and French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar (World No.43).
Satwik and Chirag are considered as favourite to win a medal at the quadrennial showpiece given their consistency and sharpness on the court. The pair won two BWF titles – French Open 2024 in March and Thailand Open 2024 in May – in the build up to the marquee event. Satwik and Chirag claimed World No.1 spot after they won gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October last year.
Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy met ace tennis player Rafael Nadal at the Paris Olympic village ahead of the prestigious event, starting on July 26. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
