Seventh seed Lakshya Sen, rising mixed doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto-Ishaan Bhatnagar went out of Hylo Open Super 300 event in Saarbrucken, Germany on Tuesday.
With the BWF World Tour action entering its third straight week in Europe, following Super 750 events in Denmark and France, there are opportunities for some Indian shuttlers to earn ranking points as the season draws to a close.
But things didn’t get off to a good start in the German event with the two Indian matches scheduled for the day ending in defeat.
For Lakshya, who started on paper as a favourite in his quarter of the draw after top seed Anders Antonsen’s withdrawal, it was a forgettable day on court. At the business end of what has been a long (and largely successful) season for the youngster, he looked fatigued against Ng Ka Long Angus. The world No 15 from Hong Kong prevailed 21-12, 21-5 in 27 minutes. The match was as one-sided as the scoreline suggests as Lakshya struggled for rhythm from the word go.
Earlier in the day, Crasto-Bhatnagar bowed out as well. China’s Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping prevailed 21-13, 21-12 in 29 minutes. After being neck and neck through most of the game, the Indians lost six points in a row as Feng-Huang took the first game 21-13. Huang, who was the Olympic champion in Tokyo but with a different partner, and Feng were in control of the second game.
On Wednesday, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy, Saina Nehwal, will be in action along with the French Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The men’s doubles rising stars are seeded third at the event and will be hoping for another deep run as they could be in contention for a spot in the season-ending World Tour Finals.
Satwik-Chirag start with a tricky test against Lee Yang (Olympic champion with Wang Chi Lin) and Lu Chen from Chinese Taipei. The Indians are in the same quarter as British duo Ben Lane-Sean Vendy and face a potential semifinal against world No 1 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi, who they had defeated in Paris last week.
For Prannoy, who has already sealed a spot at World Tour Finals as per Badminton Talk, Shesar Hiren Rhustavito is the first-round opponent. Should he get past that, a tasty clash awaits against either Shi Yu Qi or Loh Kean Yew.
Srikanth begins on Wednesday against China’s Lu Guang Zu. Also in that bottom quarter is Sameer Verma, who will take on Jonatan Christie a week after stunning his compatriot Anthony Ginting in Paris.
In women’s singles, Nehwal faces a tough opening test against fourth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Also in action are Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod. Kashyap, who won the National Games recently beating Bansod in the final, will take on Léonice Huet from France. Bansod faces Spain’s Clara Azurmendi. Both these matches pit players ranked close to each other and the Indian youngsters would be hoping to go further than the first round.
In men’s doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, PS Ravikrishna and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar are all in the main draw. The latter two pairs face each other in the opening round.
In women’s doubles, Linda Efler and Isabel Lohau await Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela in the opening round. Sister duo of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda got a walkover after Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra withdrew. Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker start off against Vivian Hoo and Lim Chiew Sien.
In mixed doubles, Indian contention is over. Ashwini Ponnappa and Sai Pratheek – a new pairing – were entered but they have withdrawn since.
Schedule for Wednesday is here.