Lakshya Sen bows out; Indian challenge ends

Vantaa: Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen squandered a one-game advantage to lose to Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarterfinals of the Arctic Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.

The 23-year-old toiled hard for one hour 10 minutes before going down 21-19 18-21 15-21 to his seventh

seeded opponent in the second round of the Super 500 tournament.

It was a tough day for India, as all the country’s shuttlers lost their matches, ending their challenge here.

Indian qualifier Kiran George, who had defeated World No. 25 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday, was brushed aside 17-21 8-21 by fifth seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the men’s singles event.

Malvika Bansod meekly surrendered 15-21 8-21 to Ratchanok Intanon in the women’s singles contest.

Unnati Hooda and Aakarshi Kashyap also lost their respective round of 16 games.

Unnati went down 10-21 19-21 to Canada’s Michelle Li, while Aakarshi lost 9-21 8-21 to second seed Han Yue

of China.