India’s Lakshya Sen put in a much-improved performance as he defeated compatriot HS Prannoy in straight games in the first round of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Lakshya, the men’s singles defending champion at the tournament, had lost to Prannoy, the top-ranked Indian men’s singles player at the moment, at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week.
But on Tuesday, the 21-year-old Lakshya was in command and earned a 21-14, 21-15 victory in 45 minutes to improve his head-to-head record to 4-3 against his compatriot and move into the round of 16.
#IndiaOpen2023 #IndiaOpenSuper750 🏸
Lakshya Sen soaks in the applause after defeating HS Prannoy in the first round 👏
📹: BAI Mediapic.twitter.com/Mywx2lhL85
— The Field (@thefield_in) January 17, 2023
Lakshya was in control for the most part & completes a straight games win against Prannoy to kickstart his title defence. A now familiar embrace at the end (and I hope we don’t see it for a while in rd1 😅) LS laps up the applausehttps://t.co/58iof4QK0G pic.twitter.com/plrJnJGsoP
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 17, 2023
In men’s doubles, the star Indian duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy proved to be too strong for Scotland’s Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley. The fifth seeds, who lost in the semifinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week, won…
