Vietnam Open: Lakshya Sen will face tough test of credentials as he moves to senior circuit

Ho Chi Minh City: Asian junior champion Lakshya Sen will look to continue his golden run when he switches to the senior circuit, competing at the USD 75,000 Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 starting on Tuesday (7 August). The 16-year-old from Uttarakhand had ended India’s 53-year long wait for a men’s singles gold when he clinched the title at the Asia Junior championship last month. Lakshya will begin his campaign against Singapore’s Ng Zin Rei Ryan, while Ajay Jayaram, who finished runners-up at the White Nights International Challenge, will meet local player Le Duc Phat. [caption id=“attachment_3964781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lakshya Sen. Image coutesy: Twitter @virenrasquinha[/caption] Mithun Manjunath, who had reached the semifinals of the Russian Open, will play a yet-to-be-decided qualifier. Abhishek Yeligar will face Maurius’ Georges Julien Paul, Shreyansh Jaiswal will also take on a qualifier and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina will square off against the experienced Tien Minh Nguyen. Siddharth Pratap Singh will fight it out with Chinese Taipei’s Lu Chia Hung, Kartikey Gulshan Kumar will clash with Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito and Bodhit Joshi will cross swords with Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul. In women’s singles, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, who won a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games, will face Malaysia’s Yin Fun Lim. Mugdha Agrey will test her skills against seventh seeded Chinese Han Yue, while Vaidehi Choudhari lock horns with USA’s Crystal Pan and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli faces Indonesia’s Yulia Yosephin Susanto. Rasika Raje will meet a qualifer in the opening round. Second-seeded women’s doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram will face a pair from the qualifying round, while Poorvisha will again pair up with Shivam Sharma as they take on Tadayuki Urai and Rena Miyaura.