Arctic Open 2024 badminton: Lakshya Sen crashes out in pre-quarterfinals; India’s campaign ends
Lakshya Sen clinched the opening game before his opponent from Chinese Taipei turned the tables in the next two games to win the contest in 70 minutes.
Badminton
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen crashed out of the Arctic Open 2024 badminton men’s singles event after losing to seventh-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.
Competing in Vantaa, Finland, world No. 19 Lakshya Sen lost the contest 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 to Chou Tien Chen, 10th in the badminton rankings, in 70 minutes.
Lakshya Sen, playing his first match on the BWF Tour since missing out on the Olympic medal in August, matched Chou Tien Chen in the early exchanges.
The Indian badminton player gained momentum with a seven-point streak to lead 13-7 but Chou Tien Chen fought back to level the score at 15-15 and even took a lead at 17-19. However, Sen closed out the game by winning the final four points.
Sen built a 9-5 lead in the second game but Chou Tien Chen did not look back after equalising at 13-13.
The Indian shuttler also lost steam in the decider which turned out to be a one-sided affair.
This was Lakshya Sen’s fourth loss to Chou Tien Chen in six meetings. Their previous meeting was in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which Lakshya Sen won in three games.
Lakshya Sen had received a walkover in the first round of the Arctic Open after his 28th-ranked Danish opponent Rasmus Gemke withdrew ahead of the contest.
Kiran George, who progressed from the qualifying round, was beaten by Indonesia’s reigning Asian champion Jonatan Christie 21-17, 21-8. Kiran George had beaten higher-ranked Wang Tzu Wei in the first round.
In the women’s singles, India’s 17-year-old Unnati Hooda fell to former Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li of Canada after losing 21-10, 21-19. Michelle Li had beaten PV Sindhu in the first round on Tuesday.
Aakarshi Kashyap was beaten 21-9, 21-8 by second-seeded Chinese shuttler Han Yue while Malvika Bansod went down to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon with a 21-15, 21-8 scoreline.
In the mixed doubles, fourth-seeded Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi of the People’s Republic of China beat India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath 21-12, 21-15.
Later in the day, Panda sisters Rutaparna and Swetaparna lost 21-8, 21-10 to top seeds Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning of China in the second round of women’s doubles. The loss ended India’s challenge in the BWF Super 500 event.
Indian badminton players will next be seen in action at the Denmark Open BWF Super 750 event in Odense from October 15 to 20.