China Open: Lakshya goes down fighting after Prannoy stuns Watanabe on mixed day for India

Changzhou (China), July 22 India got off on a mixed note in their campaign in the China Open badminton tournament as two of its top male players had contrasting fortunes as the 19th event on the 2025 BWF calendar got off to a rollicking start here on Tuesday.

Prannoy staged a remarkable comeback to save five match points and defeated World No. 18 Koki Watanabe of Japan 8-21, 21-16, 23-21 in the opening round, recovering from 2-11 down in the decider to pull off the comeback for the ages to wrap up a memorable win.

However, lady luck was not smiling on Lakshya as he went down to China's 2022 Asian Games gold medallist Li Shifeng in three games, failing to press home the advantage after winning the first game. Despite winning the first game 21-14 and with a match point at 22-21, Lakshya went down to the fifth-seeded Li 21-14, 22-24, 11-21 in an intense battle that lasted over 67 minutes.

Earlier in the women's singles, India's Anupama Upadhyaya went down fighting to World No. 22 Lin Hsiang Ti of Chinese Taipei in three games. After winning the first game 23-21, Anupama lost 11-21, 10-21 in the next two games to crash out of the event at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.

In the women's doubles, Kavipriya Selvam and Smiran Singh lost to Lauren Lam and Allison Lee 16-21, 14-21. They were joined on the sidelines by fellow Indians Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh, who lost to Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En-Tzu of Chinese Taipei 12-21, 5-21.

In the mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde won the first game but lost the next two and ended with a 27-25, 16-21, 14-21 result in the first round. Fellow Indians Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh also fell at the first hurdle, losing 12-21, 17-21.

After HS Prannoy gave the country's campaign a great start with a three-game win, the focus was on Lakshya Sen as the second player from the country in the men's singles draw.

He started well and took an early lead against Li Shi Feng, surging to a 9-5 advantage. The Chinese star fought back to level scores at 9-9. Scores went neck and neck till 12-all before Lakshya opened a 15-12 lead. Though Li Shi Feng brought down the margin to 14-16, the Indian went on to win the game 21-14.

Things turned for the Indian in the second game as the Chinese World No.22 surged to a 10-4 lead. But Lakshya clawed his way back and caught up with him 19-19. Lakshya then won had two match points at 21-20 and 22-21 but could not close out the match.

"Yeah, it was a good match, and I was playing well, starting from the beginning. Even in the second game, I didn't start really well, but found my rhythm back, and yeah, I had, I think, two match points in my hand. So a bit unlucky to not finish those in the second set and the 3rd, I didn't get a good start and after that it was pretty, pretty tough to get back into the game," said Lakshya Sen in a post-match interaction arranged by Badminton Federation of India (BFI).

Lakshya said his opponent also played well and admitted he also had his chances in the second game.

"He was also playing the solid game, so yeah, I think after winning the second set, he was much more confident, and it was hard to put the shield down in the third set. But yeah, had my chances in the second. But yeah, overall a little bit disappointed, but I am looking forward to the next one," said Lakshya.

The 23-year-old Lakshya Sen, ranked 19th in the BWF World Rankings, said he was feeling 100 percent physically during the match.

"I think physically I was 100% today, and yeah, this last few months have been tough. So, just trying to get back to full fitness, full training. And today's match was a good example of (how) I can play. Gave me a lot of confidence that I can play again at the highest level and with that speed. So, yeah, in the past few months, I've struggled a bit, and I'm also moving well on the court. So, I was happy that I could move well today," said Lakshya Sen, who narrowly missed winning the bronze medal in the Paris Olympic Games.

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