New Delhi: Indian shuttlers endured a horrendous outing on Day 2 of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament in New Delhi as the country’s premier players Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy suffered stunning opening round exits on Wednesday. Both badminton stars lost their matches against Taiwanese opponents as India suffered a dismal day at the office in the national capital.
While Prannoy suffered a 21-16, 18-21, 12-21 defeat to Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei in an intense match, Lakshya was stunned 21-15, 21-10 by Lin Chun Yi in a lopsided match.
Prannoy, Lakshya suffer stunning exits
It was a heartbreaking exit for Prannoy, who has been fighting injury and health issues in the last few months. After being knocked out of the pre-quarterfinal of the Paris 2024 Olympics due to a chikungunya infection, Prannoy has been on the road to recovery. He made a second-round appearance in the Malaysia Super 1000 earlier this month and had hoped for a better outing in the India Open.
Following the early exit, Prannoy admitted that his recovery journey has been difficult.
“Post-Chikungunya, it was really tough to get back to normal. Being on the court probably shows how bad the aftereffects were. I’m around 60-70% in terms of fitness. It was important for me to keep playing in the circuit and stay involved,” he told reporters after the match.
Meanwhile, Lakshya, who hoped for a better start to the year after a below-par 2024, conceded that he was outplayed by his Taiwanese opponent and said that he found it tough to keep up with the incredible pace that Lin was playing at.
Women’s shuttlers also disappoint
Just like their male counterparts, it was a day to forget for Indian women’s singles shuttlers. Malvika Bansod and Priyanshu Rajawat fought valiantly against their much higher-ranked opponents but ended up on the wrong side of the score-line in the opening round.
Malvika showed grit and fight against third seed Han Yue of China, saving two game points in the opening game and fighting back from 7-14 to 16-16 in the second but went down 20-22, 21-16, 21-11 in an hour and six minutes. Meanwhile, Rajawat also put in a determined performance and saved a match point in the second game to force a decider against the 2023 world championships silver medallist and sixth seed Kodai Naraoka but fell to a 21-16, 22-20, 21-13 loss.
Earlier, an intense battle between academy mates Anupama Upadhyaya and Rakshita Sree Santosh Ramraj wowed the crowd at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall. The battle of wits between two good friends ended with National champion Anupama winning the contest 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes.
Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy suffered stunning opening round exits after losing their respective matches against Taiwanese opponents. Badminton Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
