Changzhou [China], July 22 : India's Lakshya Sen struggled against home favourite Li Shi Feng and was defeated in the Round of 32 of the China Open, while HS Prannoy barely managed to conjure a way and crawled to the next fixture on Tuesday.
Lakshya, ranked 19th in the world, went down fighting 21-14, 22-24, 11-21 against world number five Feng of China in a contest that lasted 1 hour and 7 minutes. Following Feng's win, he now trails 6-7 in head-to-head contests.
The 23-year-old Indian suffered yet another premature exit in the tournament. Last week he lost 21-19, 21-11 to local favourite and world No. 8 Kodai Naraoka in the Japan Open. The Indian shuttler pushed Naraoka to his limits in the opening game but failed to put up much resistance in the second as the contest lasted just under an hour.
In China Open, Lakshya came all guns blazing and hardly gave anything away to Feng. He reigned supreme and closed the opening game with a 21-14 win. In the second game, Feng upped the ante and raced to an early lead. Lakshya responded with grit to chop down the deficit and force his way to win.
However, the 25-year-old China shuttler held his nerves and kept the game alive with a hard-fought 22-24 win in the second game. In the final, Lakshya never appeared in the game as Feng, soared to a comprehensive lead and kept it intact to confirm his place in the next round.
Before Lakshya endured yet another early heartbreak, Prannoy narrowly escaped the same fate that the 23-year-old encountered. Prannoy, ranked 38 in the world, scripted a memorable 8-21, 21-16, 23-21 against Japan's Koki Watanabe to keep his campaign alive.
He lost the opening game with his rustic display but forged a comeback in the second to restore parity and force the match into a decider. In the third game, Prannoy appeared down and out at 2-11 midway through the game. He reduced the gap to 15-20, saved five match points to script a memorable comeback and stand triumphant over Watanabe.
In the women's singles event, Anupama Upadhyaya lost in a similar fashion to Lakshya. She won the opening set but failed to capitalise on the opportunity and succumbed to Lin Hsiang-Ti of Chinese Taipei, 23-21, 11-21, 10-21.
In the mixed doubles category, Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh lost in straight games, 12-21, 5-21, to the Indonesian pair of Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in 31 minutes.
Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde put up a strong fight against Malaysian pair Tien Ci Wong and Chiew Sien Lim, but it went in vain as they lost 27-25, 16-21, 14-21 in the Round of 32.
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