KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (PTI): India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen made a solid start to the new season as he advanced to the men’s singles second round with a hard-fought victory over Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh at the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old from Almora, who won the Australian Open and also finished runner-up at the Hong Kong Open last season, took 70 minutes to get past world No. 21 Teh 21-16, 15-21, 21-14 in a thrilling opening-round contest.
A 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, Lakshya, currently ranked world No. 13, will next face either sixth seed Christo Popov of France or Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod, who was returning to competitive action after a six-month layoff due to a left knee injury, suffered a straight-games defeat. She lost 11-21, 11-21 to seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, a former world champion, in the opening round.
Later in the day, Ayush Shetty, the US Open Super 300 champion, is scheduled to take on Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist.
In men’s doubles, India’s experienced M R Arjun and 22-year-old Hariharan Amsakarunan will face Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita in their opening-round match.