China Masters: Sen crashes out; Srikanth, Anmol, Chaliha progress to Rd-of-16

Shenzhen, Sep 2 (IANS) Lakshya Sen’s China Masters campaign came to an early end on Wednesday as the Indian shuttler went down to Canada’s Victor Lai in straight games in the Round of 32 round.

Sen suffered a 14-21, 7-21 straight-games loss at the hands of the 2026 World Championships bronze medallist here at the Shenzhen Arena. This was the Indian’s third loss to the Canadian in the pair’s fourth career meeting.

Moreover, this was Lai’s third win over Sen this year. The Canadian got the better of the Indian at the Thomas Cup and in the round of 16 of the China Open in July. Sen’s only win over Lai was a gruelling three-game All England Open semifinal in March that Sen won 21-16, 18-21, 21-15.

Sen was originally slated to face the newly crowned world champion Alex Lanier of France, who withdrew after his title-winning run in New Delhi.

Last month, the Indian had a disappointing run at the home World Championships, where he was ousted in the second round after losing to Garret Tan of USA.

Earlier, 2021 World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth paved his way to the second round after beat Chi Yu-jen 21-16, 21-15.

In another men’s singles action, Raunak Chauhan kickstarted his campaign with a straight-games win over Liu Yu Xuan of China 21-15, 21-18. Meanwhile, Saneeth Dayanand defeated third seed Chinese Dong Tian Yao 9-21, 21-18, 21-15.

However, Kiran George lost the three-game battle 15-21, 23-21, 10-21 to Shogo Ogawa of Japan.

In the women’s singles, Anmol Kharb eased past Liang Ka Wing of Hong Kong with a 21-17, 21-9 win, while Ashmita Chaliha defeated Pornpicha Choeikeewong of Thailand 21-17, 23-21.

In mixed doubles, the Indian pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto defeated the Thai duo of Tonkid Saeheng and Tonrug Saeheng 21-8 and 21-9.

Later in the day, the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Xing, while Tanvi Sharma will take on Denmark’s Amalie Schulz.

–IANS

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