Lakshya Sen started Thursday as part of a four-strong cohort of Indian shuttlers vying for an Olympic gold in Paris. By the time the sun set at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, he was the only one left.
Sen and HS Prannoy, his compatriot and Olympic village roommate, were pitted against each other in the round of 16. Their compatriots, men's doubles pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had just lost their chance at a medal.
Sen, cementing his place as a rising star in Indian badminton, drummed up a decisive 12-21 6-21 win against Prannoy, who ranks nine spots above him in the world.
"Playing him on the biggest stage in the world was an emotional match, India playing against each other," Sen said. "But once I was there I was just in the zone."
"It's hard mentally because you're sharing a room and you keep training," Prannoy said. "It is emotionally tough to understand the whole situation."
"He came out with a lot of confidence and was playing a solid game ... I was nowhere near my best."
In cricket-crazy India, badminton has been making room for itself as an increasingly popular sport since former world No 1 Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal at the London Olympics. She was fast followed by PV Sindhu who won silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo.
Shetty and his coach, former player U Vimal Kumar, spoke to Reuters this week about the need for more investment in badminton from Indian corporations and the government.
India sent seven players to Paris this year and Sen is the last one standing. Rankireddy and Shetty went out on Thursday in a nail-biting match with Malaysian duo Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi-Yik, and India's women's doubles players Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa were taken out 21-15 21-10 on Tuesday by Australia's Angela Yu and Setyana Mapasa.
Later on Thursday, Sindhu lost her chance at a hat-trick of Olympic medals when she was knocked out 19-21 14-21 by China's He Bingjiao.
"It's hard that I couldn't get the result that I wanted," Sindhu said. "It's Lakshya's first Olympics. I want him to give it his best and give it 100 per cent."
Sen is on Friday set to play Taiwan's Chou Tien Chen, the former world No 2 men's singles player who has come back swinging from suffering cancer last year and played an impeccable game so far in Paris.