Lakshya Sen sails into Rd 2; Saina Nehwal, Prannoy sink at Denmark Open

Odense (Denmark), October 20

Young Lakshya Sen thumped compatriot Sourabh Verma in straight games to enter the second round but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal at the Denmark Open Super 1000 tournament here today.

Sen, who had finished runner-up at the Dutch Open on Sunday, dished out a superb performance to outclass national champion Verman 21-9 21-7 in 26 minutes.

London Games bronze medallist Saina, who had retired midway through her first match at Uber Cup Final due to a groin injury, couldn’t match Japan’s world No. 20 Aya Ohori and lost 21-16 21-14 in the opening round.

HS Prannoy lost 21-18 21-19 to sixth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia. Parupalli Kashyap retired from his match against fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei

The Indian doubles players had a dismal outing. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 21-17 14-21 21-11 to China’s Feng Yan Zhe and Du Yue in mixed doubles. Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram lost 21-8 21-7 to Indonesia’s Nita Violina Marwah and Putri Syaikah in women’s doubles. Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy went down 21-17 21-13 to second seeded South Korean pair of Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan. — PTI