Lakshya Enters Second Round, Malvika Out

Kuala Lumpur: Indian star Lakshya Sen has made a good start to the new season, advancing to the second round of the men’s singles with a hard-fought win over Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh at the Malaysian Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old player from Almora, who won the Australian Open and played in the final in Hong Kong last season, managed to get past the world number 21 21-16 15-21 21-14 in an exciting opening 70 minutes.

Lakshya, a bronze medalist at the 2021 world championships and currently ranked World No. 13, will next face either sixth-ranked Christo Popov of France or Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.

In the women’s singles, Malvika Bansod, who returned after a six-month break due to her left knee injury, lost to former world champion Thai seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon 11-21 11-21 in the opening round.

Later in the day, US Open Super 300 winner Ayush Shetty will face Paris Olympic bronze medalist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia.

In the Indian men’s doubles, experienced pair MR Arjun and 22-year-old Hariharan Amsakarunan will face Japanese Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita.