Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:Lakshya Sen and the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were knocked out in the fourth round of the Japan Open, a BWF Super 750 badminton tournament, on July 17. Sen lost 19-21, 11-21 to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in straight games, while Satwik-Chirag suffered a 22-24, 14-21 loss to the Chinese duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
India’s campaign has suffered a setback with these defeats oy, as the prominent players such as HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu have already exited the tournament. Now the spotlight rests on Anupama Upadhyaya, India’s sole remaining hope, who is set to take on China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the women’s singles. World No. 18 Lakshya, who finished fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympics, overcame China’s Wang Zheng Xing 21-11, 21-18 to enter the second, while Satwik and Chirag, defeated South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Ki Dong Ju 21-18, 21-10 in 42 minutes to move into the second round.
Earlier, on July 16, Sindhu went down 21-15, 21-14 to the world No. 14 South Korean shuttler in 38 minutes in the opening round. It was her first defeat to Sim Yu Jin in four meetings. The loss marked yet another early exit for Sindhu in what has been a challenging 2025 BWF World Tour season. Her best finish this year remains a quarter-final appearance at the India Open in January, which was followed by four first-round exits and two round of 16 finishes.
