Lakshya Sen suffered a shock second-round defeat to USA’s Garret Tan to make an early exit but two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and fast-rising Ayush Shetty progressed to the prequarterfinals at the BWF World Championships here on Wednesday.
Sen could not match USA’s former world Junior No.1 Garret Tan’s pace, attack and deception, losing 21-19 19-21 17-21 in the men’s singles Round of 32.
“It was a very tough match. I gave my all whatever I had. I was also exhausted physically in the third game. I will give a lot of credit to him, he played a solid game. I am little disappointed though I gave my all in the end but it wasn’t enough. He was just a better player today,” a crestfallen Sen said.
“It is a big tournament, it would hurt probably more, but we have some big tournaments coming up, so will prepare for that.” Sindhu, who is chasing an unprecedented sixth world championship medal, secured a 21-16, 21-17 win over Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang to enter the last-16. The 2019 World Champion, seeded ninth, will face China’s third seed Wang Zhi Yi next. Ayush Shetty brushed aside Sri Lanka’s Dumindu Abeywickrama 21-8, 21-10 to set up a clash with a formidable opponent in Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan.
Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after receiving a walkover in their opening match.
The fifth-seeded Indians, who have already won two bronze medals at the World Championships, had received a first-round bye and were scheduled to face Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Adam Pringle in the second round. However, the Scottish pair withdrew at the last moment after Dunn suffered a right ankle injury while playing his mixed doubles match earlier in the day.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila also advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after defeating Macau’s Leong Iok Chong and Ng Weng Chi 21-11 21-11. Young Unnati Hooda, making her debut at the prestigious tournament, also bowed out after squandering an opening-game advantage, losing 21-11, 9-21, 21-23 to 12th seed Michelle Li of Canada in the women’s singles.
Men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also went down 17-21 14-21 to Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Ki Dong Ju. Sen was troubled by Tan’s pace and attacking play, with the American making good use of his overhead smashes. He repeatedly targeted the Indian’s backhand rear corner and used jump smashes and deception to disrupt his opponent.
Tan raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening game, but the contest soon turned into a slugfest as the players moved from 5-5 to 18-18. Agencies