World Badminton Championships: Sen progresses to second round; Praneeth loses

Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen continued his impressive run trouncing Danish HansKristian Solberg Vittinghus in straight games to progress to the mens singles second round at BWF World Badminton Championships here on MondayIndia also registered twin wins in womens and mixed doubles competition on the opening day which saw B Sai Praneeth bow out after losing in three games to world number 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese TaipeiThe 20yearold Sen who had returned with a bronze on his debut in Spain last year prevailed 2112 2111 over an erratic Vittinghus in his opening matchPraneeth a 2019 bronze medallist earlier put up a brave effort before going down 1521 2115 1521 to Chen in little over an hourIt was yet another forgettable outing in Tokyo for Praneeth following his struggles at last years Olympic Games where he participated without a proper coach or physio to bow out earlyHowever former Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy progressed to the womens doubles second round with a 217 219 win over Maldives Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul RazzaqAlso Read BWF World Championships Lakshya Prannoy to lead India in Sindhursquos absenceAshwini and Sikki will face an uphill task of taming top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in the second roundIn mixed doubles Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar defeated German duo of Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann 2113 2113 in 29 minutes to also make a positive start to their campaignThe Indian pair will meet 14th seeds Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand nextLakshya seeded ninth played some exceptional cross court returns from deep forehand to trouble the 36yearold Danish who had come into the match with a 21 headtohead count against the IndianPlay Quiz Manchester United vs Liverpool QuizThere was no lack of effort from the veteran Danish but he couldnt stop Lakshya from running away with the opening game with the Indian always staying a step aheadA relentless Vittinghus kept testing the Indian by engaging him in fastpaced rallies one of which was of 31 shots but Lakshya used his winners to finish them off or the Danish miscuedIn the midgame interval of second game Lakshya again managed a fourpoint advantage after Vittinghus sent one wide and slapped his head in frustrationAt 1115 Vittinghus made Lakshya twist and turn with his angled returns to win a point but he was too erratic to put any pressure on his opponentSoon five straight points took Lakshya to match points and he sealed it with a smashAmong others B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri lost 1121 2119 1521 to Masayuki Onodera and Hiroki Okamura in mens doublesIn womens singles Malvika Bansod also bowed out in the opening round after losing 1421 1221 to Denmarks Line ChristophersenThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever