India's Badminton Players Bow Out of Japan Open in Second Round

Tokyo, Jul 17 (PTI) Indian badminton players faced a challenging day at the Japan Open, with Lakshya Sen and the esteemed men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty exiting in the second round, bringing an end to India's campaign at this Super 750 event on Thursday.

World No. 18 Lakshya Sen displayed an uneven performance, resulting in a 19-21, 11-21 defeat against Japan's Kodai Naraoka in a men's singles match that lasted nearly an hour.

At 23, Lakshya had shown promise in his opening match, securing a commanding 21-11, 21-18 victory over China's Wang Zheng Xing, yet was unable to maintain that momentum.

In the men's doubles category, Satwiksairaj and Chirag experienced a 22-24, 14-21 loss to the fifth-seeded Chinese duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in a contest between former world No. 1 pairs.

With this triumph, Paris Olympics silver medallists Wei Keng and Wang Chang increased their head-to-head advantage over the Indian pair to 7-2.

Despite lagging at the start, the Indian pair fought back to take an 18-14 lead but were unable to sustain it, allowing their Chinese opponents to clinch the first game in an exciting finish.

The Chinese pair, ranked world number five, maintained their form in the second game, while Satwik and Chirag struggled with their smashes and defence, resulting in their fourth consecutive loss to Wei Keng and Chang.

The sole remaining Indian player, Anupama Upadhyaya, put up a valiant effort against second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China but fell short, losing the round-of-16 match 21-13, 11-21, 12-21 in 55 minutes.

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