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regular-article-logo Sunday, 12 May 2024

All England Championships: Lakshya Sen on song, Sindhu falls

20-year-old notched up a 21-16, 21-18 win over third seed Anders Antonsen

PTI Birmingham Published 18.03.22, 01:13 AM
Lakshya Sen

Lakshya Sen File Photo

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen stunned world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight games to progress to the men’s singles quarter finals but it was curtains for Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the All England Championships here on Thursday.

The 20-year-old who claimed his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then reached the final of German Open last week, notched up a 21-16, 21-18 win over third seed Antonsen, a two-time medallist at World Championships, in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva, respectively.

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Sen will face China’s Lu Guang Zu in the quarter final.

The fifth-seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also entered the last-eight stage after making short work of Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany 21-7, 21-7.

World No. 7 Sindhu went down 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 to Sayaka Takahashi, ranked 13th, in an hour and six minutes. Saina lost to second-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi 14-21, 21-17, 17-21 in a 50-minute clash.

Later in the day, World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth also bowed out, losing 21-9, 18-21 19-21 to Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

Sen gave ample display of his tactical acumen as he dished out a defensive game and kept Antonsen away from the net to lead 11-9 at the first break.

He kept things under control after the interval to move to a 13-9 lead and maintained the lead to pocket the opening game.

Sen tried to use his smashes judiciously to jump to a 9-5 lead early on before grabbing a four-point advantage at the breather. Antonsen fought his way back to 14-14, riding on six points on the trot.

The duo moved 14-14 to 16-16 before Sen managed to eke out a two-point lead at 18-16.

He kept his nerves and unleased a cross court smash to grab three match points. Antonsen saved one after an exciting rally but the Indian shut the door next to make it to the last-8.

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