Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Aug 22: Lakshya Sen, the champion of the Commonwealth Games, kept up his good streak on Monday, defeating Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark in straight games to advance to the second round of the men’s singles competition at the BWF World Championships.
On the first day, India also won both the women’s and mixed doubles matches, while B Sai Praneeth withdrew after losing in three games to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, the fourth-ranked player in the world. The 20-year-old Sen defeated an inconsistent Vittinghus 21-12 21-11 in his opening encounter after returning from his debut in Spain with a bronze medal the previous year.
2019 bronze medalist Praneeth previously made a valiant attempt before losing to Chen in just over an hour, 15-21 21-15 15-21. In the wake of his problems at the 2016 Olympics, where he competed without a proper coach or physio, Praneeth had yet another forgettable performance in Tokyo.
However, after defeating Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives 21-7, 21-9, previous Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles tournament.
In the second round, Ashwini and Sikki will have a difficult time defeating China’s top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan.
