Hong Kong Open: India shuttler Lakshya Sen storms into final for first time since last year

HONG KONG: India shuttler Lakshya Sen marched into the final of the men’s singles event by stunning the world number nine Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan in straight games at the ongoing Hong Kong Open 2025 badminton tournament on Saturday.

Ranked 20 in the world, Lakshya trounced Chou in a nerve-jangling 23-21, 22-20 win at the Hong Kong Coliseum. In the opening game, Lakshya raced to a 3-0 lead and held an 11-7 advantage at the mid-way interval.

However, the third seed, Chou Tien-chen, refused to bow down easily. He crawled his way back into the fixture to restore parity and even saved two game points before standing on the wrong side of the result in the first game.

In the second game, Chou Tien-chen switched gears and enjoyed a cushion of three game points to force the semi-final into a decider. However, despite the odds stacked against him, the Paris 2024 Olympics semi-finalist refused to bow down.

With nerves of steel, a composed strokeplay changed the outcome of the game. Lakshya upped the ante, saved all three game points and closed out the match with five consecutive points. Lakshya will now square off against the Olympian and world number 9 Li Shifeng in the final of the Hong Kong Open. The contest will be Lakshya’s first final on the BWF World Tour since winning the Syed Modi International last year.

Meanwhile, India’s popular men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the finals. Satwik and Chirag managed their first-ever appearance in the final for this year, defeating the Chinese Taipei duo 21-17, 21-15 in just 38 minutes. India’s two-time world championship medalists duo will now face sixth seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China in the finale.

The Indian duo have conquered Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in three of their nine meetings as of now, including in their last encounter at the BWF World Championships last year. (ANI)