India Open badminton 2024: HS Prannoy advances; Lakshya Sen crashes out in first round

India’s top-ranked men’s single badminton player HS Prannoy progressed to the second round of the India Open 2024 in New Delhi on Tuesday. Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, lost to junior compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat.

Playing on the badminton courts of KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, HS Prannoy, ninth in the BWF badminton rankings, defeated world No. 13 Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei 21-6, 21-19.

HS Prannoy found his rhythm early and dominated Chou Tien Chen in the first game. The second game was a close affair with Chou Tien Chen, a world championships bronze medallist, leading 16-11 at one stage. 

Prannoy, also a world championships bronze medallist, clawed back to win six straight points and then sealed the match in 42 minutes. 

"I got to understand that he was not able to get the length properly in the first game, so I had to wrap it up really quickly before he got into that rally mode," Prannoy said after registering his sixth win in 13 head-to-head meetings against Chou Tien Chen. 

"In the second game, as expected, he started to push the speed and was able to finish a lot of shuttles from behind. I didn't hit really hard towards the end of the game and was trying to play softer shots,” Prannoy added.

Later in the day, Lakshya Sen was stunned by Priyanshu Rajawat in the first round of the BWF Super 750 tournament.

Priyanshu Rajawat, world No. 30, got the better of the 19th-ranked Lakshya Sen with a 16-21, 21-16, 21-13 scoreline in a contest that lasted 75 minutes. Lakshya Sen also made a first-round exit at the Malaysia Open, the first tournament of the 2024 badminton season, last week. 

World No. 37 Kiran George was also handed a 21-12, 21-15 defeat from 28th-ranked Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei. 

Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, world No. 19 in women’s doubles, won the first game against the world No. 4 Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida but were ousted after losing the match 21-18, 14-21, 13-21 in 70 minutes. 

World No. 52 women’s doubles team of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda went down 21-7, 21-6 against Hong Kong China’s 21st-ranked pair of Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam.

In the men’s doubles, MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila lost 21-9, 21-13 against Tokyo Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin Chinese Taipei. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, currently No. 2 in the rankings, will take the court on Wednesday.

The India Open 2024 offers qualifying ranking points to shuttlers for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 last year and will end on April 28 this year.