China Masters: Srikanth Advances, Lakshya Sen Crashes Out in First Round

Kidambi Srikanth made a winning start at the China Masters badminton tournament, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen 21-16, 21-15 in the opening round. Srikanth controlled the contest and secured a comfortable straight-game victory to enter the second round, where he will face Canada’s Victor Lai. In contrast, India’s top-ranked men’s singles player Lakshya Sen endured another disappointing outing, losing 14-21, 7-21 to Lai. After initially taking a 4-0 lead in the opening game, Lakshya struggled to maintain his momentum as Lai took control and dominated the match. The defeat marked Lakshya’s third loss to Lai, having beaten him only once previously.

India also recorded several positive results in other events. In women’s singles, Tanvi Sharma defeated Denmark’s Amalie Schulz 21-16, 21-17 to progress to the second round, where she will meet Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki. In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty comfortably beat Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Kang Kai Xing 21-11, 21-6. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also advanced in mixed doubles after defeating Thailand’s Thonakorn Sehaeng and Thonicha Sehaeng 21-8, 21-9.