 "Macau Open: Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty advance; Prannoy, Unnati Hooda crash out")
Macau: Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and Tharun Mannepalli progressed to the second round of the men’s singles competition at the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament after registering fine wins here on Wednesday.
Lakshya, the Commonwealth Games champion, brushed aside Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-8 21-14, while world No. 31 Ayush eased past Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu Kai 21-10 21-11. Tharun defeated fellow Indian Manraj Singh 21-19 21-13.
Lakshya will face the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo and Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar. Ayush will take on Malaysia’s Justin Hoh, while Tharun has set up a second-round clash with top seed Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
In mixed doubles, fifth seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, ranked 18th in the world, outclassed Thailand’s Ratchapol Makkasasithorn and Nattamon Laisuan 21-10 21-15 in a brisk 26-minute encounter.
In an all-Indian men’s doubles clash, P Krishnamurthy Roy and S Pratheek K prevailed 21-18 21-19 over D Konthoujam and Amaan Mohammad to enter the second round.
However, India’s HS Prannoy made an early exit after losing 21-18 15-21 15-21 to Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut Marcellyno in the men’s singles opening round.
It was also the end of the road for Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, who went down to Malaysia’s Justin Hoh 19-21 12-21 in a 37-minute pre-quarterfinal match.
In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda — who had stunned two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu at the China Open last week — fought hard before going down 21-16 19-21 17-21 against Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen in 59 minutes.
Anupama Upadhyaya also found the going tough against Japan’s Riko Gunji, losing 16-21 10-21.
Sankar Subramanian and Aakarshi Kashyap suffered first-round defeats, losing 18-21 14-21 to China’s Hu Zhe An and 14-21 16-21 to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, respectively, in men’s and women’s singles.
Kiran George was no match for Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus, losing 15-21 10-21 in 31 minutes.
Anmol Kharb put up a spirited performance before going down 21-23 11-21 to Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
Former junior world No. 1 Tasnim Mir was outclassed 6-21 14-21 by Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei in just 27 minutes.
In mixed doubles, Thandrangini Hema Nagendra Babu and Priya Konjengbam lost 11-21 14-21 to Thailand’s Phuwanat Horbanluekit and Fungfa Korpthammakit.
Ayush Agarwal and Shruti Mishra also bowed out in the opening round, going down 10-21 11-21 to Indonesia’s Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
India suffered another setback in mixed doubles, with the 34th-ranked pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde losing to Chinese Taipei’s Wu Guan Xun and Lee Chia Hsin 20-22 17-21 in a 37-minute encounter.
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