Badminton Asia Championships: Lakshya Sen, the odd one out

Manila (Philippines), April 27

Olympics medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal fought off strong challenges from their opponents before winning their respective opening matches but it was curtains for Lakshya Sen and B Sai Praneeth in Badminton Asia Championships here today.

Sindhu toiled hard against Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po as the fourth-seeded Indian came back from a set down to win 18-21 27-25 21-9 in a women’s singles opening round match that lasted an hour and 17 minutes.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina, who has been on a comeback trail after recovering from nagging injuries, also had to fight hard to eke out a 21-15 17-21 21-13 win over Sim Yujin of South Korea.

While Sindhu will next play Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi, Saina will be up against China’s Zhi Yi Wang.

The other Indian player in the women’s singles draw, Malvika Bansod, squandered a one-game lead before going down 21-9 17-21 24-26 to Yeo Jia Min of Singapore in another hard-fought tie.

Aakarshi Kashyap also bowed out with a 15-21 9-21 loss to Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi.

Sen falls to unseeded Feng

It turned out to be a disappointing day for World Championships bronze medal winner Sen, who was stunned by the unseeded Li Shi Feng of China. The fifth seeded Indian lost 21-12 10-21 19-21 in his opening round men’s singles tie that lasted 56 minutes.

Also, world No. 19 Sai Praneeth suffered a 17-21 13-21 defeat to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie.

However, Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round with a straight-game win over Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia. Srikanth, seeded seventh, logged a 22-20 21-15 win over the Malaysian. He meets Chinese qualifier Weng Hong Yang in the second round.

In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam went down 19-21 12-21 to Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing of Malaysia in the opening round.

Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker also suffered a straight-game defeat, losing 15-21 11-21 to the seventh-seeded Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.