All England shuttler C'ships: India's Lakshya Sen bows out
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Birmingham: India's Lakshya Sen bowed out of the All England Badminton Championships, and so did the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand after losing their respective quarterfinal matches in Birmingham on Friday. Sen exited after a straight-game loss to Chinese world No. 6 Li Shi Feng in the men's singles quarterfinal. The 2022 finalist, who had narrowly lost a Paris Olympic medal last year, was outplayed 10-21, 16-21 in a 45-minute contest. Then, the duo of Treesa and Gayatri went down to Chinese second seeds Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 14-21 10-21 in a match lasting 46 minutes.
Treesa and Gayatri failed to recreate their outstanding performance in their round-of-16 victory against South Korea's Kim Hye Jeong and Kong Hee Yong on Thursday.
The Indians started on a bright note, but once the formidable Chinese pair, perhaps the best in the world at the moment, found their footing, there was no stopping them as they tackled everything their opponents threw at them to emerge winners in straight games.
With this result, India's challenge at the prestigious tournament has also come to an end.
Earlier, Sen ranked world No. 15, who had won his last two matches against Li, including at the Thomas Cup, on the day he struggled against his familiar Chinese opponent from the junior class of 2018.
India's campaign in other categories ended in the second round of the world's oldest Super 1000 tournament, carrying a prize purse of USD 1.45 million.
On Thursday, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out in men's doubles after an injury, Malvika Bansod exited in women's singles, and the mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also fell short.