Inconsistent Lakshya crashes out of Malaysia Super 100 badminton

Lakshya, coming off a title win at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow and a third-place finish at the King Cup International, failed to replicate his recent form

Kuala Lumpur: An inconsistent Lakshya Sen faltered in his opening match, while HS Prannoy endured a frustrating start to the season-opening Malaysia Super 100 badminton tournament as his opener against Canada’s Brian Yang was suspended midway due to a leaking roof at the Axiata Arena on Tuesday.

Lakshya, coming off a title win at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow and a third-place finish at the King Cup International, failed to replicate his recent form and succumbed to Chi Yu-jen of Chinese Taipei, losing 14-21, 7-21.

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The Indian shuttler’s game was riddled with unforced errors, leaving him with little chance against the 27-year-old. Prannoy, returning to action after the Paris Olympics, was leading 21-12, 6-3 when rainwater began seeping through the roof, forcing play to be stopped on Court 3 about 25 minutes into the match.

After a delay of over an hour, play resumed around 4.15 pm, but the match was halted again as the leak persisted. Yang was leading 11-9 in the second game when officials decided to suspend the match, which will now resume on Wednesday with the score reading 21-12, 9-11.

“Played for 25 min, took a break for 165 min because of Rain and then again played for 5 more minutes. Shall continue playing the same match tomorrow,” Prannoy wrote on his ‘X’ page.

Prannoy had raised the issue with the chair umpire after water started pooling on the left front section of the court. Organisers inspected the area, leading to the suspension of the match. Matches on Court 2 were also stopped for the same reason, while Court 1 remained operational. In bizarre scenes, organisers were seen using white towels to dry the courts.

Treesa-Jolly ease into second round

Earlier in the day, India’s women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand easily overcame Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai, beating the Thai pair in straight games in the opening round.

The Indian pair, seeded sixth here, won 21-10, 21-10 in just 30 minutes to secure a place in the round of 16. On a high following their success in the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in Lucknow, Treesa and Gayatri faced little challenge from the unseeded Thai pair taking a 17-8 lead in no time.

The second game saw the Thai pair go neck-and-neck till 8-all before Treesa and Gayatri ran away with the game and the match.

Lakshya succumbs to errors

The opening game was tightly contested in the initial stages as the two players traded points to stay level at 6-6.

Leading 9-7, Yu Jen claimed a crucial long rally with a cross-court smash and entered the mid-game interval with a three-point cushion, aided by a misjudgment from Lakshya. After the break, Lakshya began committing a flurry of unforced errors, allowing his opponent to build confidence and extend his lead to 13-9.

In the end, Lakshya’s inconsistency proved costly as three successive unforced errors handed Yu Jen the opening game. The Indian’s struggles carried over into the second game as well, where he quickly found himself trailing 1-8.

By the mid-game interval, Lakshya faced an uphill battle, trailing 4-11. His downward spiral continued as Yu Jen surged ahead to 19-7, just two points away from victory. A netted shot from Lakshya gave Yu Jen 13 match points, and the Chinese Taipei player sealed the win with a decisive cross-court smash.