A tough second day for the Indian shuttlers at the Denmark Open as Saina Nehwal exits and Kashyap retires hurt

A rough second bad for Indian shuttlers as most of them suffered defeats at the Denmark Open. Despite starting on a positive note on day one, the Indians failed to maintain their winning run going into the second round of the prestigious Denmark Open.

Former Denmark Open champion Saina Nehwal faced Aya Ohori of Japan in Round 1 of the women’s singles category and lost in straight games. The Indian shuttler lost to the Japanese by a 21-16, 21-14 scoreline. Saina Nehwal’s early exit from the tournament was a huge setback for the entire Indian badminton contingent.

India missed their luck in doubles aswell as Ashwini Ponappa and N. Sikki Reddy lost their opening encounter against South Korean pair of Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan. The Indians lost to the Koreans by a 21-17, 21-13 scoreline. Indian Mixed Doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa also lost their opening match in a gruelling three game encounter. The Indians faced Feng Yan Zhe and Du Yue and lost by a scoreline of 21-17, 14-21, 21-11.

Meanwhile, sixth seed Jonathan Cristie faced HS Prannoy and the Indonesian shuttler was too goof for his Indian counterpart as he won 21-18, 21-19.

Experienced Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap’s Denmark Open campaign ended on a sad note as he failed to finish his match against Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei. Kashyap was trailing 0-3 against his opponent when he was retired hurt and had to withdraw from this game.

The only positive from this match was Lakshya Sen’s win in the men’s singles category. The Indian youngster showed great resilience and character to be the sole Indian winner from the second day of the Denmark Open. Lakshya faced Sourabh Verma in an all Indian affair. Hailed as the next big thing in Indian badminton, the 20-year-old defeated his compatriot Sourabh Verma by a 21-9, 21-7 scoreline. However, Lakshya Sen will now face second seed Viktor Axelsen and that will be a major test for the Indian youngster. The home favourite Axelsen has won the Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and is in great form. So it will be a big test for the 20-year-old Indian shuttler.