World Championships bronze medalist Lakshya Sen defeated world number three Anders Antonsen in straight games on Thursday, March 17, 2022, in Birmingham. With this, he entered the quarterfinals of the men’s singles of the All England Badminton Championships. However, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal disappointed. Sindhu lost in the second round to a 6 rank bottom shuttler. India’s challenge in women’s singles ended with Sindhu and Saina losing.
Lakshya’s world men’s singles ranking is 11. The 20-year-old Sen from Almora registered a 21-16, 21-18 win over third seed Antonsen. Antonsen is a two-time medalist at the World Championships. Lakshya Sen and Antonsen were face-to-face for the first time at the international level.
Sen will face China’s Lu Guang Xu in the quarterfinals. Lu Guang defeated 8th seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 21-10, 21-11. Lakshya had won the India Open title in January this year. He was runner-up at the German Open last week.
In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen displayed a fine example of his technical prowess. He kept Antonsen away from the net. They had led 11-9 in the first game till the break. Even after this, he maintained his lead and won the first game easily.
In the second game, Sen took a 9-5 lead and maintained a four-point lead till the break. Antonsen scored six consecutive points to make the score 14-14, after which it became 16-16. Sen soon made two points to lead 18-16 and got three match points from a cross court smash. Antonsen saved a match point after a long rally but then the Indian did not give him a chance and secured his place in the last eight.
In the other match of the men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth failed to capitalize on an early lead against fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Gitting of Indonesia. He crashed out after losing 21-9, 18-21, 19-21 in a match that lasted over an hour. The fifth-seeded Indian doubles pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, however, continued their stellar run and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Srikanth did not face any problem in winning the first game with giting. He held an 11-5 lead till the break. Even after this, he continued his excellent performance and won the first game very easily. Gitting, however, made a great comeback in the second game.
He took the lead initially, but Srikanth leveled the score at 5-5. Then took a slight lead of 11-10 till the break. After this, there was a tough competition between both the players. Anthony Sinisuka Gitting, however, leveled the match on the first game point itself.
In the third and deciding game, there was initially little difference between the two players, but the Indonesian scored six consecutive points in the middle to take a 15-9 lead. Srikanth soon made 14-16 and 18-18 but he could not stop Gitting from winning.
Two-time Olympic medalist in women’s singles PV Sindhu And Saina’s poor performance continued. Both had to face defeat in the fighting matches that lasted for three games. Sixth seed Sindhu went down 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 to lower ranked Japanese player Sayaka Takahashi. This match lasted for one hour and six minutes. Sindhu’s world ranking is 7 and Sayaka Takahashi’s is 13.
before this Saina Nehwal She also lost to second seed Japanese player Akane Yamaguchi in a three-game thriller. Former world number one Saina lost 14-21 21-17 17-21 to Yamaguchi in a match that lasted 50 minutes. Saina had lost in straight games to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand at the German Open last week.