Hylo Open 2022 | Lakshya Sen falters in first round, other Indians in the fray
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Lakshya Sen unexpectedly lost in the first round of the men's singles competition at the Hylo Open 2022 BWF Super 300 event on Tuesday in Saarbrucken, Germany. Sen, the seventh-seeded and CWG winner lost to Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka Long in 27 minutes with the scores of 21-12, 21-5.
The next round's opponent for Angus Ng Ka Long will be Toma Popov Junior of France. Seven positions lower in the badminton rankings than the Indian competitor, Angus Ng Ka Long, started off strong. Lakshya Sen was caught off guard by the Hong Kong player's aggressive demeanor.
Angus quickly built a comfortable lead after scoring eight points in a row to start the game, and the Hong Kong player rode the momentum to easily win the first game. The two players have never met before to this. Sen, a former junior world no.1, was unable to handle the intensity of the Hong Kong player in the second game and lost easily.
He lost in the first round of a BWF competition for the second time in a row. Last week, he was defeated by fellow countryman Kidambi Srikanth in the first round of the French Open. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto of India's mixed doubles team were eliminated earlier in the day after falling to China's Huang Dongping and Feng Yanzhe, who makes up one-half of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics' mixed doubles winners, 21-13, 21-12.
Wednesday will see Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and Saina Nehwal compete with Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Last week at the French Open made history by becoming the first Indian doubles team to win a BWF Super 750 championship.
