Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen suffered an opening round exit at the Thailand Open, while Aakarshi Kashyap and Unnati Hooda progressed to the next round after hard-fought victories in the Super 500 tournament in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Sen lost to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in a tense three-game clash, losing 18-21, 21-9, 17-21 in the men’s singles opening round match that lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
After losing the first game, Sen fought back in the second, dominating with aggressive play. However, Nguyen held his nerve in a nail-biting clash and sealed the win in an impressive fashion.
Rajawat also knocked out
Rising star Priyanshu Rajawat also crashed out in the first round as he went down 13-21, 21-17, 16-21 against Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
In women’s singles, Aakarshi survived a scare against Japan’s Kaoru Sugiyama and clinched a nerve-wracking contest 21-16, 20-22, 22-20. In a match of narrow margins, the Indian star held her nerve in the final stages of the decider.
Unnati also fought her way through to the next round, registering a hard-fought 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 win over Thailand’s Thamonwan Nithiittikrai.
Meanwhile, Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, despite starting well in the match, lost her women’s singles opener 18-21, 7-21 to eighth seed Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the opening round of the Thailand Open after losing a hard-fought match to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. Badminton Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
