BIRMINGHAM: Indian Commonwealth Games champion and Olympian Lakshya Sen bowed out of the All-England Open 2025 after losing his men’s singles quarter-final match in Birmingham on Friday.
Lakshya Sen, 15th in the men’s singles badminton rankings, lost 21-10, 21-16 against reigning Asian Games champion and world No. 6 Shi Feng Li of the People’s Republic of China, as per Olympics.com.
Sen matched the sixth seed Shi Feng Li shot for shot in the early exchanges to lead 4-3 before the latter picked up nine successive points and took control of the game.
The Indian badminton player managed to pick just six points for the rest of the first game as Shi Feng Li comfortably wrapped out the opener.
Lakshya Sen mounted a brief comeback to lead Shi Feng Li 11-8 at the second-game interval. However, Shi Feng Li switched gears after the break to win the contest in 45 minutes. This was Lakshya Sen’s third defeat in seven meetings against Shi Feng Li.
Lakshya Sen reached the semi-finals at the All England Open last year and made the final in 2022.
In the women’s doubles section, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were beaten 21-14, 21-10 by the world No.2 pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China in the quarter-finals.
Liu Sheng Shu-Tan Ning had a 3-0 advantage in the opening exchanges, but Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand pulled things back to trail by a point at the mid-game break.
Second seeds Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning then upped the ante and dominated proceedings by conceding just four more points en route to sealing the opener.
The second game was more of a lop-sided affair,with the Chinese pair dominating from start to finish and eventually winning the match in 46 minutes.
Earlier in the tournament, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu crashed out of the women’s singles event in the first round on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, world no. 28 Malvika Bansod and men’s doubles duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy exited the tournament on Thursday, as per Olympics.com.
Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had to pull out of their round of 16 match after Chirag suffered a back muscle strain midway into the contest. (ANI)
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