Ashmita, Satwik-Chirag, Saina crash out of Thailand Open

Bangkok: Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen progressed to the men’s singles quarterfinals with an upset win over Li Shi Feng of China in the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament here on Thursday.

Sen beat his fourth seeded Chinese opponent 21-17 21-15 in a round of 16 match that lasted 49 minutes.Another Indian, Kiran George, who made it to the main round through the qualifiers, also advanced to the men’s singles quarterfinals after beating world number 26 Weng Hong Yang of China 21-11 21-19 in 39 minutes.

In the women’s singles, an out of touch Saina Nehwal lost 11-21 14-21 to He Bing Jao of China.

The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also lost their pre-quarterfinal match to Fikri and Maulana of Indonesia 26-24 11-21 17-21.

The Super 500 is a Grade 2 (level 4) event in the BWF tournament ranking system.

The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300 tournaments. One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.