Paris Olympics 2024: Why Lakshya Sen's match against Kevin Cordon won't be counted?

Lakshya Sen’s group stage match against Jonatan Christie will decide the group topper.

The Paris 2024 Olympics have barely begun, but they’re already full of surprises. The latest news comes from badminton, as Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen‘s victory against Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon won’t be counted at the Paris Games

The Badminton World Federation (BWF), which is in-charge of all major badminton tournaments, explained what happened. They said, “Guatemalan men’s singles player Kevin Cordon has withdrawn from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Badminton Competition due to a left elbow injury.”

This might seem like a simple statement, but it has big consequences. The BWF then added, “As per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving Cordon in Group L are now considered deleted.”

The BWF has a rule that says if a player quits the tournament, all their matches must be removed from the records in the specific competition. This rule, which the BWF calls a “regulation,” is meant to keep things fair for all players. It’s like erasing all traces of the player who left, so they don’t affect the other players’ chances of moving forward in the tournament.

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What does this mean for Lakshya Sen? Even though he won his match against Cordon fair and square (with a score of 21-8, 22-20), this win no longer counts. It’s as if the match never took place.

The BWF explained how this affects the tournament schedule. “Cordon’s remaining Group L matches against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and Julien Carraggi of Belgium will not be played. Matches on these courts in each respective session have been rescheduled.”

This means that not only was Sen’s win erased, but the whole tournament schedule had to be changed. The group that once had four players now only has three: Lakshya Sen, Jonatan Christie and Julien Carraggi.

Interestingly, Sen will still play three matches, while Christie and Carraggi will only play two each. This is because Sen’s match against Cordon already happened before Cordon quit the tournament. For Sen and the other players, this means they need to focus on their remaining matches. Only the top player from each group gets to move on to the next round of the tournament.

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