Odense. India’s Lakshya Sen had to bow out of the first round of the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Tuesday despite putting up a tough fight against China’s Lu Guang Xu. Former World Championship (2021) bronze medalist Lakshya failed to capitalize on his chances despite winning the opening game easily. He lost to the Chinese player 21-12 19-21 14-21 in a match that lasted 70 minutes.
This 22-year-old player from Almora, who had finished fourth in the Paris Olympics, had lost in the second round of the Arctic Open in Finland last week. Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu reached the second round after Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po withdrew from the match midway through the second game. When Po decided to withdraw from the match, Sindhu was leading 21-8 13-7.
Malvika Bansod, who had reached the quarter-finals in China Open, also failed to cross the initial hurdle here. She was defeated by Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh 21-13 21-12 in the women’s singles match. Arkish Kashyap also had to bow out after losing to seventh seed Supanida Katethong of Thailand 13-21, 12-21. The pair of sisters Rituparna and Swetaparna Panda were also defeated by Chang Ching Hui and Ya Ching Tun of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 24-22 in the women’s doubles in the first round.
There was a close match in the opening game between Lakshya and Lu, who was playing his second tournament after the Paris Olympics. The score between the two was tied at 8-8 but after this the Indian player scored three consecutive points and increased his lead to 11-8 till the break.
After this, they scored seven consecutive points to increase their lead to 20-11 and easily won the game.
Lakshya made a good start in the second game by taking an 8-2 lead. Lu was successful in reducing this difference to 11-12. The Indian player once again made a comeback and took a lead of 16-11 but after this, Lu showed strong play and patience which gave him the advantage. He took a lead of 19-18 and then won the game by two points when the score was tied at 19-19. Lu was successful in continuing this momentum in the decisive game. He maintained the pressure on the target and won by securing six match points.