Swiss Open: Lakshya Sen makes first round exit; Sindhu, Prannoy advance to pre-quarterfinals

Basel: Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen’s woeful run continued as he made a first round exit at the Swiss Open badminton tournament, even as senior compatriot Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the next round of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event in Basel on Wednesday. The 2021 World Championships silver medallist Srikanth had to dig deep to get the better of China’s Weng Hong Yang 21-16, 15-21, 21-18 to set up a second round clash against Hong Kong’s Cheuk Yiu Lee, who dashed the hopes of world No.12 Sen. The eighth seeded Sen looked a pale shadow of himself as he failed to match the level of his rival, losing 18-21 11-21 to bow out of the men’s singles competition. But Mithun Manjunath registered a straight-game 21-8, 21-17 win over Joran Kweekel of Netherlands to sail into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals. He will next face qualifier Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei, who stunned seventh seeded Chinese shuttler Jun Peng Zhao 21-12, 21-13 in another first round match. The women’s doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil also crashed out in the opening round, losing 12-21 14-21 against Japan’s Sayaka Hobara and Yui Suizu. But the celebrated men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty meant business as the second seeded India pair defeated Malaysian combination of Xin Yuan Boon and Tien Ci Wong 21-15, 21-18 to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals. Sindhu, Prannoy advance to pre-quarterfinals of Swiss Open Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy beat All England Championships finalist Shi Yu Qi of China to storm into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals. World number 9 Prannoy continued his good run as he recovered from a second game slump to notch up a 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 win over Shi Yu Qi, who is a 2018 world championships silver medallist, in the men’s singles opening round. Two-time Olympic medallist and fourth seed PV Sindhu too made a positive start to her title defence, beating Jenjira Stadelmann of Switzerland 21-9 21-16 in a lop-sided opening round of women’s singles. Prannoy will next face France’s Christo Popov, while Sindhu will take on 20-year-old Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani, who was part of the gold medal winning team of the 2022 Asia Team Championships. Also in action on Thursday will be Kidambi Srikanth against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu. National champion Mithun Manjunath takes on Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei and second seeded men’s pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Taiwanese pair of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.