Badminton
Indonesia Masters: Indian challenge ends as Lakshya, Tanisha/Ashwini exit
Here's how the Indians fared on Day 4 of the Indonesia Masters 2023.
Lakshya Sen, Ashwini Ponnappa, Tanisha Crasto
The Indian challenge at the ongoing Indonesia Masters 2023 came to end after men's singles player Lakshya Sen and women's doubles pair Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa suffered defeats in the quarter-finals.
In the Round of 16, Sen defeated Malaysian Ng Tze Yong. After conceding the first game, the Indian came back strong to ultimately win the match with 19-21, 21-8, 21-17 figures. In the women's doubles scene, the Crasto-Ponnappa duo got the better of home favourites Lanny Tria Mayasari/Ribka Sugiarto.
This time as well, the Indians lost the first game to stage a comeback and win the match 19-21, 21-18, 23-21.
For the two remaining entrants in the Masters, it was never going to be an easy quarter-final bout. Sen, seventh seeded, faced local boy Jonatan Christie, who is fourth seeded. The Indian started off well to win the first game 21-15. However, Christie staged a brilliant comeback to win the next two games 21-10 and 21-13.
Scratch pair of Tanisha/Ashwini was up against Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, who are 18th in the BWF World Tour rankings in women's doubles. While the Indians, having a mix of experience from Ponnappa and a sense of raw power from Crasto, stood their ground in moments, it wasn't enough to go through to the semis.
The Japanese duo won in straight sets with the score reading 21-13, 21-18.
