Badminton
Kumamoto Masters 2025: Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy sail through to second round
Lakshya beat home favourite Koki Watanabe in straight sets, while Prannoy edged past Malaysia's J. Leong in three games.
Lakshya Sen outsmarts Ayush shetty in the quarterfinal of the 2025 Australian Open. (Photo credit: Lakshya Sen/Instagram)
Indian ace Lakshya Sen sailed to the second round of the 2025 Kumamoto Masters Super 500 in Japan on Wednesday.
Lakshya, seeded seventh, defeated home favourite and World No. 26 Koki Watanabe 21-12, 21-16 in just 39 minutes. He will take on Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh for a place in the quarterfinals.
The former world medalist HS Prannoy joined his younger counterpart in the second round with a tough three-game win against higher-ranked Jun Hao Leong of Malaysia.
He will take on Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in the Round of 16 match on Thursday. This will be 7th meeting between the two players, with the former leading the head-to-head record by 4-2.
Meanwhile, Kiran George and Ayush Shetty suffered first-round exits. Kiran lost to Malaysia’s Kok Jing Hong 20-22, 10-21, and Ayush lost to fourth-seeded Japanese Kodai Naraoka 16-21, 11-21.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde saved four match points before going down 12-21, 21-19, 20-22 to the American pair Presley Smith and Jennie Gai.
Later in the day, Tharun Mannepalli also faced a first-round exit, losing a straight-game, 9-21, 19-21 encounter to Hyeok Jin Jeon of South Korea.
