New Delhi: India’s topmost singles shuttler Lakshya Sen went down to World No. 4 China’s Li Shi Feng 15-21, 12-21 in the final of Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament on Sunday.
Shi Feng needed only 45 minutes to beat his familiar rival and after their 14th head-to-head meeting, both players have now won seven each.
Ranked 20th, Sen beat Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen 23-21, 22-20 to enter his first Super 500 final in over two years. His opponent Shifeng had beaten France’s Christo Popov 21-18, 21 -19 in the semis.
Earlier, men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were beaten in the final by China’s Olympic silver medallists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang to finish runners-up.
The World No. 9 pair lost 21-19 14-21 17-21 to the sixth-ranked duo in 61 minutes for their second consectuive podium finish after bronze at World Championships last month.
“Been a good week, especially after the world championships a week later and here we are playing a final. You would want to go and win that title but credit to them, they played well as well. There’s always a next time and overall happy with the performance,” Chirag said after their loss.