Badminton
German Open: Lakshya Sen exits in first round, Indian challenge ends
Indian shuttlers endured a tough day as Lakshya Sen lost along with three others in the first round of the German Open 2023.
Lakshya Sen (Source: Getty Images)
Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen made a shock opening-round exit from the German Open badminton tournament after a straight-game defeat to Christo Popov of France in the men's singles, here on Wednesday.
The world number 12 and sixth-seeded Sen went down to world No 41 Popov 19-21 16-21 in a round of 32 clashes, lasting 46 minutes. Popov displayed a brilliant mix of defense and attack to take down Lakshya Sen in straight sets.
Lakshya Sen had his chances but he failed to capitalize and gave away a few easy points to Christo Popov.
All three other Indians also lost their respective round-one matches to end the country's campaign in the BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
Despite his best efforts, Mithun Manjunath was defeated by Singapore's fourth-seeded Loh Kean Yew in the men's doubles first round 8-21, 21-19, 11-21.
Mithun was impressive against Loh Kean Yew as he defeated Loh in the second game after losing the first game. Mithun was good with his footwork and troubled the Singapore shuttler.
Although, Loh Kean Yew used his experienced and used the court to tire the Indian shuttler and win the match.
Malvika Bansod succumbed to fifth-seeded and world-number-six Wang Zhi Yi of China 13-21, 14-21 in the women's singles event, and Tasnim Mir fell to eighth-seeded Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 8-21, 10-21.
India's participation in the competition concluded with the results from Wednesday as all the Indian shuttlers are out of the tournament.
The Scottish team of Adam Hall and Julie Macpherson defeated the Indian mixed pairs team of B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa on Tuesday but lost 10-21, 12-21.
(With PTI Inputs)
