Lakshya Sen’s BWF World Championships campaign got off to a winning start on Tuesday but not before the 14th seed was given a scare by rank outsider Collins Filimon here.
The world No. 128 Austrian, a towering 6’3” presence on court, took the opening game and for long looked capable of producing one of the early upsets before the Indian took the game 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Meanwhile, Karnataka’s mixed doubles pair Amrutha Pramuthesh and Ashith Surya, a last-minute entrants as standbys, delighted the crowd in a spirited display before going down against Turkey’s unseeded Emre Sonmez and Yasemen Bektas 21-16, 29-30, 22-24.
Prominently, the match saw the rare golden point in second game, in which the Turkish pair restored parity by winning the 30th point from the jaws of defeat. The decider went down to wire too with both pairs having chances of sealing the game before the Sonmez and Bektas brought their experience to the fore to close the match.
Bengaluru’s Amrutha and Hassan’s Ashith, in fact, were competing at the Karnataka State Badminton Championships when they received a call to fill in their spot as reserves.
“I think this is what we dreamt about. We never thought we’d get an entry for this. As soon as we got the news, we just informed them (state federation) and came to here.” said Amrutha, who expressed her happiness at putting up a fight for every point.
Meanwhile for Lakshya, who has built a reputation for raising his level on the biggest stages and reached the All England final earlier this year, the opening game was an unusually scrappy affair.
The Indian looked tentative from the outset, particularly with the drift, and was being too cautious with his lifts, wary that giving the shuttle too much height could carry it long.
Filimon needed little encouragement as he kept Lakshya under pressure with his reach and coverage, taking the shuttle early and forcing the Indian into uncomfortable exchanges. The Austrian steadily opened up the first significant lead, while Lakshya struggled to find his attacking rhythm.
There were signs of a fightback as the first game progressed as Lakshya began picking up points, extending rallies and trying to draw Filimon away from his preferred positions. But the damage had already been done by then.
The change of ends, however, brought a very different Lakshya to the court. Once he had the favourable side and a clearer reading of the conditions, the Indian appeared to have a more settled plan.
Rather than getting drawn into flat exchanges with the tall Austrian, Lakshya began taking the shuttle higher and engaging Filimon in longer rallies.
That shift proved decisive as the 2021 Worlds bronze medallist was was able to move Filimon around the court and, importantly make his opponent work for every point. He also repeatedly went for body smashes, attacking Filimon’s frame rather than searching for the lines while the match began to tilt sharply in his favour.
From that point on, the contest was all about Filimon chasing as Lakshya rattled off points with increasing authority. The Indian got under his skin well as the Austrian’s earlier confidence all but disappeared in the third set for meek surrender.
Results: Indian results only: Prefix denotes seedings: Round of 64: Men: Singles: Round of 64: 14-Lakshya Sen (Ind) bt Collins Filimon (Aut) 21-16, 8-21, 4-21.
Women: Singles: Unnati Hooda (Ind) bt T Thet Htar (Mya) 22-20, 21-16.
Round of 32: Doubles: Kavipriya Selvam/ Simran Singhi (Ind) lt to Gabriela Stoeva/ Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 7-21, 14-21; Treesa Jolly/ Gayatri Gopichand bt 16-Lauren Lam/ Allison Quynh Lee (USA) 21-15, 21-12.
Mixed doubles: Ashith Surya/ Amrutha Pramuthesh (Ind) bt Emre Sonmez/ Yasemen Bektas (Tur) 21-16, 29-30, 22-24.
