New Delhi: Days after a superb campaign at the Hong Kong Open, Lakshya Sen slumped to another low in a dismal year, crashing out of the opening round at the China Masters badminton tournament in Shenzen. The world number 20 shuttler from India, who has endured a horror outing in 2025, showed signs of getting back to his best form in Hong Kong last week when he stunned Chou Tien-chen to qualify for the final.
While he lost the title decider to world number four Li Shifeng, hopes were raised that Sen would rediscover his best form.
Lakshya’s horror run in 2025 continues
However, Sen failed to capitalise on the momentum as the poor form came back to haunt the Uttarakhand shuttler in China. Sen, who emerged as the poster boy of Indian badminton in 2021 with some stunning wins against higher-ranked opponents and several podium finishes, suffered his eighth first-round exit of the year, slumping to another low in a horrendous year.
Lakshya lost a lop-sided match 11-21, 10-21 to French shuttler Toma Junior Popov, crashing out after a 30-minute contest to end India’s men’s singles challenge. Ayush Shetty had lost his opening round match on Tuesday.
Satwik-Chirag progress to pre-quarterfinals
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached the pre-quarterfinals with a straight-game win. India’s premier doubles duo, who finished runners-up in the Hong Kong Open, registered a 24-22, 21-13 victory over Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 42 minutes. The Indian pair, thus, maintained their unbeaten head-to-head record against the Malaysian pair intact.
Satwik and Chirag faced a tough fight in the opening game, which went down to the wire. However, their experience helped them prevail in a tight 21st-minute contest.
The Malaysian pair nullified the quick start in the second game by levelling the scores at 5-5. However, the Indians upped their game and opened up an 11-6 advantage, which proved too much to overcome for the Malaysians.
In the mixed doubles category, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also crashed out after going down to second-seeded local favourites Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 19-21, 13-21.
On Tuesday, PV Sindhu won her opening match to make the pre-quarterfinals in the women’s singles event. The two-time Olympic medallist will face sixth-seeded Thai Pornpawee Chochuwong in her next fixture.