In the mixed doubles, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath had a tough outing a𓂃gainst China’s world No. 7 pair of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui, losing 6-21, 15-21 in 51 minutes
India's Lakshya Sen fought his way back to reach the second round of the All England Championships on Tuesday, while compatriot HS Prannoy was eliminated in the opening round of the men's singles competition in Birmingham. (Highlights | More Badminton News)
La♛kshya, ranked 15th in the world, came from behind to defeat Chinese Taipei’s world No. 37, SU Li Yang, with a 13-21, 21-17, 21-15 win in the opening round of the Su🧜per 1000 event.
The 23-year-old from Almora will face Indonesia's third seed Jonatan Christie next. Lakshya had defeated Christie en route to his fourth place finish at the Pa༺ri🍬s Olympics last year.
Prannoy, a bronze medallist at the 2023 World Championships and Asian Games, struggled a𒈔gainst France's Toma Junior Popov, who is ranked 17th. Prannoy fought for 53 minutes before g💯oing down 19-21, 16-21.
In the mixed double🌃s, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath had a tough outing against China’s world No. 7 pair of Guo Xin Wa and Che🧸n Fang Hui, losing 6-21, 15-21 in 51 minutes.
After losing the first game, Lakshya and Yang battled fiercely till 17-17 in the second game, with the Indian taking advantage of three errors from Yang at the net to register fo𒐪ur straight points and roar back into the contest.
In the decider, Lakshya led 11-9 at the interval, and though Yang drew level at 15-15, Lakshya finished strong, winning the last six points with a body blow, two po�༒�werful returns, and a few more mistakes from Yang.
Earlier in the day, the 32-year-old Prannoy, ranked 29th, had his chances in the opening game, leading 6-1 and 15-12, but faltered in the face of the 📖relentless pressure of Popov, who turned the game around from 16-18 to 19-𝔍18 before taking the game.
Popov grew in confidence after the change of ends, moving from 5-3 to 13-9. Prannoy fought back to level at 13-13, but Popov surged ahead ൲as the Indian crumbled.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world no.1 Sat𝄹wiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will start their campaign on Wednesday.