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The prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships 2024, underway at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, saw a thrilling set of second-round matches on March 14.
In what was otherwise a disappointing day for the Indian shuttlers, Lakshya Sen’s standout performance kept India’s hope, for a medal at the tournament, alive. The Indian beat World No. 3, Andres Antonsen, to secure his place in the quarterfinals.
PV Sindhu, the World No. 1 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa all crashed out.
A closer look at the results of the Indian shuttlers at the All England Open 2024:
Lakshya Sen, who hadn’t had the best start to the year, has changed gears and has been in unbelievable form. The 22-year-old Indian reached the semifinals of the French Open last week, and with a sensational victory over fourth seed Anders Antonsen in the pre-quarterfinals, he looks to continue his run at the All England Open.
In the match against Antonsen, Sen narrowly won the first set 24-22 before going down 11-21 in the second. The third and final set saw the Indian shuttler make a comeback from 13-10 down to level terms and then, from 14-14, take seven consecutive points to seal the match. Lakshya Sen won the thrilling three-set battle with a scoreline of 24-22, 11-21, 21-14. He will now take on Malaysia’s Lee Zi Jia in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s singles category, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu faced a tough challenge against the World No. 1 and top seed from South Korea, An Seyoung. Sindhu has made a remarkable comeback after her knee injury with a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open and continued to play some incredible badminton in Birmingham, but it was not enough to challenge An Seyoung, and the Indian eventually succumbed to a 19-21, 11-21 defeat.
The disappointment continued in the doubles category as well, with Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa falling short against China's Zhang S X and Zheng Yu.
The Indian pair, who are looking to improve their rankings and secure a spot for the Paris Olympics, put on a tough fight. After securing the first set, Ponnappa and Crasto could not sustain the momentum, and a change of tactics from the Chinese saw them secure the next two games and win the three-set match with a scoreline of 21-11, 11-21, 11-21.
In the men's doubles event, the World No. 1 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced an unexpected early exit. This defeat also brought an end to Rankireddy and Shetty’s phenomenal start to the year, where they reached the final of every tournament they had played so far.
After beating the highly experienced Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the first round, Rankireddy and Shetty lost their second-round match at the hands of another Indonesian pair. M. Fikri and Bagas Maulana looked to be the better pair and beat the Indians in straight games. The final score of the match was 16-21, 14-21.
