German Open: Lakshya Sen Makes First Round Exit; Indian Challenge Ends

Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen made a shock opening round exit from the German Open badminton tournament after a straight-game defeat to Christo Popov of France in the men’s singles, in Mulheim on Wednesday. The world number 12 and sixth seeded Sen went down to world No 41 Popov 19-21 16-21 in a round of 32 clash, lasting 46 minutes. All the three other Indians also lost their respective round one matches to end the country’s campaign in the BWF World Tour Super 300 event. Mithun Manjunath fought hard but lost his men’s singles first round match to Singapore’s fourth seeded Loh Kean Yew 8-21 21-19 11-21.

In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod suffered a 13-21 14-21 defeat to fifth seed and world number six Wang Zhi Yi of China, while Tasnim Mir lost to eighth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 8-21 10-21.

With the results on Wednesday, India’s campaign in the tournament ended.

The Indians mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa had lost their first round match on Tuesday against the Scottish duo of Adam Hall and Julie Macpherson 10-21 12-21.

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