India's star shuttler Lakshya Sen started his campaign strongly at the Japan Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event held in Kumamoto City on November 12. The seventh seed Indian proved his might by crushing the local challenger, World No. 26 Koki Watanabe, in straight games with a scorelie of 21-12, 21-16 in a match that lasted just 39 minutes.
Lakshya Sen advances to Japan Masters' 2nd round
With this win, Sen secured his spot in the second round, where he is set to face Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh for a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Kiran George, Ayush Shetty knocked out
While Sen celebrated a victory, the day saw disappointment for several other Indian players. Both Kiran George and Ayush Shetty were eliminated after suffering straight-games defeats in their respective matches. George lost 20-22, 10-21 to Malaysia’s Kok Jing Hong, and Shetty was defeated by the Japanese fourth seed Kodai Naraoka with a score of 16-21, 11-21.
Furthermore, the Indian challenge in the mixed doubles event also concluded, as the pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde put up a fierce fight but ultimately lost to the American duo Presley Smith and Jennie Gai. The Indian pair narrowly missed out, losing 12-21, 21-19, 20-22, despite managing to save four match points in the final game.
The first round of the men's singles event is not yet complete for the Indian contingent. Later in the day, established player H. S. Prannoy and fellow Indian Tharun Mannepalli were scheduled to play their respective opening-round matches, hoping to join Lakshya Sen in the next stage of the tournament.