Lakshya Sen advanced to the second round as Kidambi Srikanth was forced into an early exit after suffering a narrow loss in the opening match at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Wednesday.
World No. 19 Sen, who is looking to qualify for the Paris Olympics, avenged his Malaysia Open first-round loss to China’s Weng Hong Yang with a 24-22 21-15 win in his opening round match here.
Sen will now face either Malaysia Open champion Anders Antonsen of Denmark or Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the next round, while George will be pitted against China’s Lu Guang Zu.
For former world no. 1 Srikanth, it was yet another day when he had to return empty handed despite putting up a brave effort against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, ranked 10th.
Srikanth, who is racing against time to qualify for Paris, squandered an opening game advantage to lose 21-19 14-21 11-21 to Lee in a 54-minute clash to bow out of tournament. It was his second successive first-round loss of the season.
Sen was under pressure to perform following his miserable start to the new season which saw him make first-round exits in both the events he had participated so far.
His loss against compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat in the India Open had affected his Olympic qualification hopes as he needs to get inside top 16 by April end to make the cut for Paris Games.
On Wednesday, Sen watched his 7-3 lead evaporate as Weng dominated the proceedings to take a 19-12 advantage at one stage. But, Sen produced a rearguard action to pocket 12 of the next 15 points to leave his opponent behind.
After the change of sides, the battle for the first five points was a hard one before Sen marched to 11-6 at the break.
Weng fought bravely to make it 10-11 but it was all a Sen show after that as the Indian reeled off six straight points and held his fort to emerge victorious.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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