Indian challenge ends in Finland

Indian challenge ends in Finland

Lakshya Sen’s return to the badminton tour ended in the Round of 16 at the Arctic Open Super 500 in Vantaa, Finland after a tight three-set loss to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen on Thursday.

There were seven matches, across categories, that featured Indians. However, none managed to make it to their respective quarter-finals.

In their first meeting since the quarter-final of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Sen managed to take the first game but after being given a scare. The Indian shuttler had taken a 13-7 lead, only for Chou to claw back into the game and level proceedings at 15-15.

The Chinese Taipei player had even taken a 19-17 lead, but Sen managed to win four points on the trot to secure the first game 21-19.

Sen then raced to a 6-2 and later 9-5 lead in the second only for Chou to find a way back into the game. At 13-13, the seventh seed from Chinese Taipei took a lead that he would not relinquish, eventually winning the game 21-18 to send the match into the decider.

Riding on the momentum, Chou raced to a 10-2 lead and held on to secure the match with a 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 win.

In the other men’s singles fixture, qualifier Kiran George was handed a 17-21, 8-21 defeat by fifth seed Jonatan Christie.

In the women’s singles section, Malvika Bansod’s run at the competition came to an end in a 38-minute match against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who moved into the quarter-final with a 21-15, 21-8 win over the Indian.

Unnati Hooda lost her Round of 16 match as well, losing to Canada’s Michelle Li 10-21, 19-21.

Later on, Aakarshi Kashyap was handed a heavy 9-21, 8-21 loss by second seeded Chinese player Han Yui.

Over in mixed doubles, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath were beaten 21-12, 21-15 by fourth seeded Chinese pair Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi.

And in women’s doubles, the Panda sisters, Rituparna and Swetaparna, lost 8-21, 10-21 to top seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China.

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