Denmark Open: Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya Sen crash out after defeat in quarter-finals

Odense: Star Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament in the quarter-finals after suffering a straight-game defeat against fourth-seeded Malaysian duo of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh in Odense on Friday.

The Indian combination fought hard in both games before going down 16-21, 19-21 against the Malaysians.

On Thursday night, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen got the better off his senior compatriot HS Prannoy in straight games to progress to the men’s singles quarter-finals.

Sen, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, beat world number 13 Prannoy 21-9, 21-18 in a 39-minute clash to set up a last-eight clash with Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.

The two came into the match with a 2-2 head-to-head count in four meetings but the younger Sen proved to be the better player on the day as he made a rollicking to start to put Prannoy on the back foot on Thursday.

World number 8 Sen zoomed to a 5-1 lead early on before swelling it to 11-3 at the mid-game break. He kept moving ahead as Prannoy’s game crumbled.

In the second game, Prannoy gave a better account of himself as he kept breathing down his opponent’s neck with slender leads of 5-4 and 11-10. Things remained the same after the interval but Sen broke off at 17-17 to shut the door on Prannoy.

Lakshya Sen bows out in quarter-finals

Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game loss to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the men’s singles quarterfinal to bring down the curtains on India’s campaign at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament here.

Sen, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, lost 17-21 12-21 to Naraoka, a bronze medallist at the 2018 Youth Olympics, in a lop-sided contest on Friday night.

The two have played thrice in the international circuit with the Japanese winning twice. Interestingly, it was Sen, who had defeated him in the 2018 Youth Olympics semifinals, their last meeting.

Denmark Open 2022 presented by VICTOR
MS - Quarter final
21 21 🇯🇵Kodai NARAOKA🏅
17 12 🇮🇳Lakshya SEN

🕗 in 46 minutes
https://t.co/Dg3AbSCjpf

— BWFScore (@BWFScore) October 21, 2022

The 21-year-old from Japan, however, proved to be a difficult customer on Friday as he produced a dominating performance to stay ahead for the most part of the contest.

After opening a 5-2 lead, Naraoka jumped to a 13-9 advantage at one stage. Sen had grabbed a slender 15-14 lead but the Japanese quickly moved ahead to earn the bragging rights.

Things went further downhill for Sen in the second game as Naraoka led 5-1 before swelling it to 11-3 at the interval.

Naraoka continued to dominate the proceedings to move to 13-6. Sen grabbed the next three points but Naraoka soon bounced back to shut the door on his rival.

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