HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen knocked out in the first round of China Open

HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen both suffered a shocking first-round defeat in the China Open Super 1000 tournament.

World No. 6 Prannoy lost to Malaysia’s World No. 22 22 Ng Tze Yong in three sets, while Sen went down in three games to Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.

Prannoy, who won the bronze medal in the recently concluded World Championships, fought hard for a little more than an hour before going down 12-21, 21-13, 18-21. He was outplayed in the first game as he was unable to find his rhythm.

The 31-year-old then showed resilience to make a comeback, winning the second game comfortably to force a decider. In the final game, he fought hard but Tze Yong eventually sealed a shock victory.

Later on, Commonwealth Games champion Sen found himself in a gripping battle with Antonsen. He performed similarly to his compatriot Prannoy, losing the first game but making a comeback in the second.

In the third game of the contest, Sen was unable to find a way past the World No. 10, who wrapped up the match with a 23-21, 16-21, 21-9 scoreline.

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Other Indians participating in China Open 1000

India’s other shuttlers also didn’t fare well. Priyanshu Rajawat lost 21-13, 26-24 to Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito. Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, the only Indian women’s doubles pair in the China Open, lost 21-18, 21-11 to the top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, the silver medallists from the Tokyo Olympics.

India’s men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also ended up on the losing side, going down 23-21, 21-19 to the Japanese duo of Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in the first round.

The men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, seeded second, also made a first-round exit after losing 21-17, 11-21, 21-17 to the Indonesian pair of MS Fikri and B Maulana.

Mixed doubles duo Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy also suffered defeat in the first round, losing 21-15, 21-16 to Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. With this, all Indians participating in the China Open Super 1000 have bowed out.