Paris, Jul 27 (IANS): India's Lakshya Sen defeated Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 22-20 in 42 minutes in a men's singles Group L match of badminton competition to make a winning start in the 33rd Olympic Games here on Saturday.
After winning the first game easily, Lakshya faced a tough fight from World No. 41 Cordon and was on the verge of losing the second game, facing five match points at 16-20.
However, the Indian shuttler won six points in a row as he came back strongly to win the second game 22-20 to clinch victory, avoiding playing the third game.
It was a morale-boosting victory for Lakshya as Cordon was one of the stars at Tokyo, storming into the semifinals before narrowly missing the bronze medal.
Lakshya is in a tough group with World No.3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia and Julien Carraggi of Belgium as the other contenders to top the group.