BWF French Open 2024: Loh Kean Yew falls to Lakshya Sen in quarter-finals
The 2021 world champion failed to progress into the last four despite being one game up in the quarter-finals of the BWF World Tour Super 750 event in Paris, France.
Badminton
Singapore's badminton star Loh Kean Yew is out of the BWF French Open 2024 after losing 21-19, 15-21, 13-21 to Lakshya Sen on Friday (8 March).
The opening game was a tight affair all the way through, with neither shuttler wanting to give anything away.
Eventually, Loh managed to keep a cool head and convert his first game point.
The match was interrupted due to Sen suffering a finger injury, both in the first game and the beginning of the second.
Despite a wounded finger, the Indian world No. 19 fought well and took the lead 10-11 at the mid-game break.
Sen continued his fast, aggressive attacking play after the break to wrap up the game.
Loh seemed to have lost his momentum from the beginning, while Sen stayed in control and took advantage of Loh's mistakes.
The 22-year-old Indian maintained his aggressive strategy and eventually booked his ticket to the semi-finals.
Sen will face current men's sinlges world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn next, who edged out Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei 21-18, 21-16.
In women's singles, the semi-finalists were decided earlier in the day. 2023 world champion An Se-young and World No. 2 Yamaguchi Akane both recorded straight-games victories.
Reigning Olympic champion Chen Yufei was in trouble against PV Sindhu at a game down but managed to turn around her fortune in a 22-24, 21-17, 21-18 result.
Chen is looking to meet Japanese Yamaguchi, while An will take on Tai Tzu Ying in Saturday's semi-finals.
The BWF French Open 2024 concludes on Sunday (10 March).