Lakshya Sen
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Commonwealth Games winner Lakshya Sen pulled off a major upset in the Thailand Open Badminton Super 500 tournament, defeating All England champion Li Shi Feng of China, seeded fourth. Sen defeated the world number 12 21-17, 21-15 to enter the quarterfinals. On the other hand, Kiran George made another upset by defeating higher seed Wang Hong Yang of China and entered the last-8. Apart from Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who recently became world number four, London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal had to face defeat in the pre-quarterfinals.
Lakshya to play qualifier Liang Jun
Lakshya’s performance this year has not been up to expectations due to injuries. His world ranking has also dropped to 23, but on Thursday, Lakshya once again showed glimpses of last year’s form. This was Lakshya’s fourth win over Li Shi Feng. On the other hand, Feng has won two matches by target. World Championship bronze medalist Lakshya will take on Malaysian qualifier Liang Jun Hao in the quarterfinals.
Kiran will face Popov
Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy’s Kiran George, who defeated world number nine Xi Yuqi of China in the first round on Wednesday, defeated another Chinese Weng Hong Yang 21-11, 21-19. Wang Hong Yang reached the final of Malaysia Open last week where he lost to HS Prannoy. Kieran will face France’s Toma Junior Popov in the quarterfinals. This is Kiran’s first Super-500 tournament quarter-final.
Satwik-Chirag and Saina out
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 26-24, 11-21, 17-21 to the Indonesian pair of Mohd Fikri and Bagas Maulana. This is the first defeat at the hands of the Indonesian pair of Satwik and Chirag. Earlier, the Indian pair had defeated Fikri and Bagas thrice. Third seed He Bing Jiao of China defeated Saina Nehwal 21-11 21-14 while Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain 21-18 21-13 made it to the last eight.