BWF World Championships: Lakshya Sen beats Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the opening round

    Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen began his BWF World Championships campaign with a 21-12, 21-11 victory over Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, on August 22

    Lakshay Sen Lakshay Sen

    Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen continued his impressive season by beating Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in straight sets. The 21-year-old Almora native had earlier won the Bronze medal on his debut at Spain's 2021 BWF World Championships.

    The no. 9 seed dominated the 36-year-old Dane with explosives crosscourt forehand returns. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus tried to take control of the game by dragging the young Indian shuttler into long rallies, but Sen maintained his composure to finish the rallies with winners.

    Hans-Kristian Vittinghus began using angled strikes to win a point in the second game. However, Lakshya Sen clinched five straight points and sealed his victory with a powerful smash.

    Lakshay Sen will lock horns with Luís Enrique Peñalver of Spain in a second-round clash of the biggest badminton competition of the year on August 22.

    In the other men's singles match, 2019 Bronze medallist B. Sai Praneeth fell 15-21, 21-15, 15-21 after a hard-fought three-setter against Chou Tien-Chen of Taiwan.

    B. Sai Praneeth has struggled with his form since playing at last year's Olympic Games without a coach or physio.

    Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the second round in straight sets

    The Indian women's doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy booked a second-round spot after securing a comfortable 21-7 21-9 over Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of Maldives.

    The Birmingham Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will face a tough challenge against top seeds Jia Yi Fan and Chen Qing Chen of China on August 23.

    In mixed doubles, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto began their campaign with a 21-13 21-13 victory over Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann of Germany after 29 minutes of play.

    The India duo will lock horns with the 14th-seeded Thai pairing of Supissara Paewsampran and Supak Jomkoh on August 23.

    The Indian contingent failed to impress in the women's singles and men's doubles categories. 

    Malvika Bansod was knocked out after a 14-21, 12-21 loss to Line Christophersen of Denmark, while the men's doubles pairing of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy fell 11-21 21-19 15-21 to Hiroki Okamura and Masayuki Onodera of Japan.

     

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