PV Sindhu advances in second round of Badminton Asia Championships; Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy crash out

NINGBO(China): Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu cruised to the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships 2025, whereas Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy crashed out of the tournament on Wednesday.

Sindhu, 17th in the women’s singles badminton rankings, picked up a straightforward 21-15, 21-19 win against world No. 36 Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia in a match that lasted 44 minutes, as per the Olympics.com.

Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the first round after a straight-games defeat against world No. 14 Lee Chia-hao of Chinese Taipei.

The opening game was a hard-fought affair. Lakshya Sen went toe-to-toe with Lee Chia-hao, with the score reading 18-18 at one stage, before the Chinese Taipei shuttler picked up three successive points to win the opener.

The second game was a bit more lop-sided as Lakshya Sen struggled to keep pace with Lee Chia-hao and lost the match 21-18, 21-10. This was Lakshya’s second defeat against Lee Chia-hao in as many matches.

In the other men’s singles matches, HS Prannoy put up a fight but couldn’t avoid defeat against China’s Lu Guangzu.

HS Prannoy, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was beaten 21-16, 12-21, 21-11 for his fourth first-round exit in six tournaments this year.

Kiran George, on the other hand, progressed to the second round of the Badminton Asia Championships after a comfortable 21-16, 21-8 win against Dmitriy Panarin of Kazakhstan.

Priyanshu Rajawat also advanced after a 20-22, 21-12, 21-10 comeback win over Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen. Meanwhile, world No. 49 Aakarshi Kashyap suffered a 21-13, 21-7 defeat against China’s Han Yue, third in the women’s singles badminton rankings, in a match that lasted 31 minutes.

Anupama Upadhyaya was also beaten 21-13, 21-14 by former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

Malvika Bansod, 22nd in the women’s singles rankings, lost against world No. 15 Gao Fang Jie. Bansod was beaten 21-14, 21-8 by the Asian Games silver medallist from China.

In the men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi moved into the next round of the Badminton Asia Championships after a 21-3, 21-12 win over Sri Lanka’s Madhuka Dulanjana and Lahiru Weerasinghe.

However, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K were knocked out in the opening round after a 21-19, 21-12 loss against Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Hsiang-chieh and Wang Chi-lin.

Elsewhere, India’s challenge in the women’s doubles section ended after Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were ousted by Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo-yun and Yu Chien-Hui following a 21-11, 21-13 defeat. (ANI)