World number-12 Lakshya Sen has won a thrilling first round match of the Japan Open 2023 by defeating compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 12-21, 24-22 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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Lakshya Sen’s pre-quarterfinal opponent will be Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama. Tsuneyama upset Indonesian world No. 2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the opening round.
On the other hand, the newly appointed number-2 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made a brilliant debut at the Japan Open 2023 tournament to reach the second round. They beat Indonesia’s Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin 21-16, 11-21, 21-13.
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However, India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu has already been eliminated from the Japan Open 2023 badminton tournament. Sindhu suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Republic of China’s Zhang Yi Man by 21-12, 21-13. It was Sindhu’s seventh opening round exit in 13 BWF World Tour 2023 tournaments this year. This was also PV Sindhu’s second straight opening round ouster after going down to Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po in the Korea Open opener last week.
Zhang Yi Man, ranked one place lower than Sindhu, looked in control throughout the contest. Zhang wrapped up the match in 32 minutes to pick up her third victory over the Indian shuttler in five meetings. Heading into Wednesday’s match, the two badminton players had faced each other twice this year. While Zhang got the better of Sindhu at the All-England Open in March. It was the Indian who emerged the winner at the Malaysia Masters back in May.
Mithun Manjunath, meanwhile, conceded a lead to lose 21-13, 22-24, 18-21 to China’s Weng Hong Yang in the opening round of men’s singles. Results at the Japan Open 2023 will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year.
