All England Championships: Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy make winning start

Birmingham: Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy produced superlative performances to progress to the second round of the All England Championships with hard-fought straight-game wins in the men’s singles competition here on Tuesday. In a high intensity match, Sen moved with speed and mounted a pinpoint attack on the lines to outwit fifth seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 21-19 in 48 minutes. The 21-year-old from Almora, who had reached the final in the last edition, thus claimed his first win over the world number 5 after losing twice in three meetings. Earlier, World No. 9 Prannoy survived some anxious moments before prevailing 21-19, 22-20 against Tzu Wei Wang in his 49-minute opening round clash to take his overall tally to 5-3 over the Taiwanese. Sen, who slipped to world number 19, will square off against either Anders Antonsen, who defeated Rasmus Gemke 21-16, 21-18, in the second round, while Prannoy will meet third seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting next.

🇮🇳 shuttlers off to a great start in Birmingham 🔝🫶

Both @PRANNOYHSPRI & @lakshya_sen registered wins on day 1️⃣!

📸: @badmintonphoto #AllEngland2023#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/noavRGsiab

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) March 14, 2023

The match between Chou and Sen expectedly turned out to be high pace contest. Chou took a 3-1 lead but Sen clawed back to lead 7-6 after playing some short rallies. The Indian led 11-8 at the mid-game interval. The fast-paced rallies continued as Sen kept a firm grip to move to 15-9 but Chou won eight of the next 10 points to level at 17-17, only to give it all away with two errors. A good judgement at the baseline took Sen to 19-17. A lucky net chord helped Chou make it 18-19 but he made another error to gift two game points to Sen, who converted it at the first opportunity. After being locked 5-5 in the second game, Sen smashed out twice before producing a forehand flick to keep it 7-8 after a long rally. Sen looked to step up the attack, while Chou tried to vary the pace and prolong the rallies. However, Sen managed to eke out a one-point advantage at the break. Looking for perfection, Chou erred as Sen moved to 15-12. Sen next wriggled out of a tricky situation with an immaculate shot and followed it with a powerful smash to lead 16-13. The Indian inched closer to win with another on-the-line return and then produced a flurry of smash to move to 19-17. Chou made it 18-19 before gifting two match point chances to Sen with a service error. The Taiwanese saved one with a smash before Sen unleashed a booming return to seal the contest. Earlier, Prannoy looked in good touch as he reeled off five points on the trot to zoom to a comfortable 11-4 lead. However, the Indian was guilty of missing the lines twice and also found the net, allowing Wang to cut down the deficit to three points at 11-14. Prannoy managed to pull away to 18-12 with four straight points before Wang broke the run of points with an aggressive return after a fast-paced rally. Wang then punished Prannoy for his weak returns and moved to 16-19 with a deceptive net return. A backhand going wide and then another one going long from Prannoy brought Wang to 19-19. Prannoy then unleashed a cross court smash to move to game point and then sent down another straight smash to close the game. The second game was a tightly fought battle from the word go as Wang opened up a 7-2 lead. Prannoy levelled the scores, only to miss the lines at his opponent’s forehand corner twice. He eventually brought down a booming smash to eke out a one point lead at the break. The two engaged in a slugfest next, moving neck and neck till 16-16. Two venomous returns gave Prannoy a 19-17 lead but he once again squandered it as Wang made it 19-19. The Taiwanese went long next to hand over a match point to the Indian, who wasted it. However, a determined Prannoy ensured there was no last-minute hiccups as he rejoiced once Wang went to net. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News ,  India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.