India ace Lakshya Sen made a fine start to the new season, advancing to the men's singles second round with a hard-fought win over Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore at the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
'Once you are out of the top 32, it becomes very tough to get back. Last year I couldn't really get entries into the 750 tournaments. To start this year with one is a positive step.'
Sen, who had broken the three-year jinx of first-round exits in the tournament when he defeated Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh on Wednesday, succumbed in the pre-quarterfinals against Hong Kong-China's Lee Cheuk Yiu 22-22, 15-21 in 53 minutes.
Earlier, former world No.1 Srikanth had to dig deep to outlast fellow Indian Tharun Mannepalli 15-21, 21-6, 21-19.
Later in the day, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen will face Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia.
A gold medallist at the 37th National Games, Mannepalli was trailing 4-7 in the first game before rallying to 12-9. He then took control and scored six straight points from 15-11 to seal the game.
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 on Wednesday.
Lee, 2019 Hong Kong open winner, had finished as runner-up in the last edition and his dream of winning the title remained unfulfilled after he went down in the final for the second time in two years.
Satwik-Chirag suffer shock defeat in opening round of Singapore Open
HS Prannoy made an early exit from the Korea Open Super 500 tournament
Prannoy registered a 21-18, 22-20 win over the world number 12 Chen
Returning to action after recovering from a back injury, star India shuttler H S Prannoy emerged as the lone Indian survivor at the Japan Masters, advancing to the second round after a gritty victory in Kumamoto on Wednesday.
He will next face sixth seed Li Shi Feng of China in the last-eight round.
HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu marched into the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel.
With Srikanth's defeat, the Indian challenge in Hong Kong also came to an end.
Home favourites Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down in a tense final against world champions Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Sang Jae at India Open, settling for their second successive runners-up finish, in New Delhi on Sunday.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
With the two teams locked 2-2 in the overall tie after the first the three matches, it was left to their respective mixed doubles pairs to push them ahead.
Jia Min was happy to execute her plan but acknowledged that her opponent was not at her best shape.
Kidambi Srikanth entered the men's singles semi-finals at the Hong Kong Open after fifth seed Chen Long of China decided to quit the contest owing to an injury, in Hong Kong, on Friday.
Saina lost 9-21, 12-21 in the women's singles clash that lasted just 24 minutes
World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn crashed out of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament
Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma lived upto their billing and registered straight game victories to progress to the quarterfinals of the men's singles event at the Australian Open in Sydney, on Thursday.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
Fourth seeded Srikanth, who had claimed a silver medal at this year's Commonwealth Games, had to dig deep in his reservoir to outwit fellow Indian H S Prannoy 18-21, 30-29, 21-18 in a thrilling match, clocking an hour and seven minutes.
Sindhu and Saina will once again be India's best bet as they look to put up a good show this week.
Indian challenge ended at the Hong Kong Open World Tour Super 500 tournament after Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma lost their respective men's singles quarterfinal matches on Friday.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
H S Prannoy lost in the opening round even as compatriots Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the second round of the $ 350,000 India Open Super 500 tournament, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday.
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