India’s star player Lakshya Sen lost to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the men’s singles quarterfinal to end India’s campaign at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament.
Sen, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, lost 17-21 12-21 to Naraoka, a bronze medallist at the 2018 Youth Olympics.
The two shuttlers have played thrice in the international circuit with the Naraoka winning twice. Interestingly, it was Sen, who had defeated him in the 2018 Youth Olympics semifinals, their last meeting.
After opening a 5-2 lead, Naraoka jumped to a 13-9 advantage at one stage. Sen had grabbed a slender 15-14 lead but the Japanese quickly moved ahead to earn the bragging rights.
Things went further downhill for Sen in the second game as Naraoka led 5-1 before swelling it to 11-3 at the interval.
Naraoka continued to dominate the proceedings to move to 13-6. Sen grabbed the next three points but Naraoka soon bounced back to shut the door on his rival.
Earlier, Lakshya Sen defeated his compatriot HS Prannoy and advanced to the quarterfinals on Thursday. Sen registered a 21-9, 21-18 win in the game that lasted 39 minutes.
Kidambi Srikanth in Pre-quarterfinals
Former champion Kidambi Srikanth suffered a straight-game loss to crash out of the tournament. Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew defeated him in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the match that lasted for 35 minutes, Srikanth lost to the seventh-seeded opponent 13-21 15-21.
Srikanth, the 2021 World Championships silver medallist, won the title back in the year 2017. He had a head-to-head record of 1-1 against Yew before Thursday’s match.
Women’s doubles category:
The women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out of the Denmark Open in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian pair lost to the sixth-seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul 21-23 13-21.
Mixed doubles category:
The mixed doubles duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto also crashed out of the tournament in the pre-quarterfinals. They suffered a 16-21 10-21 defeat against second seeded Japanese duo of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
Earlier, Veteran Saina Nehwal crashed out in the first round of women’s singles on Wednesday.
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