Defending champion Lakshya Sen suffered a heartbreaking exit from the India Open 2023 badminton tournament on Thursday after losing to Denmark's Gemke Rasmus in the Round of 16 in New Delhi.
Lakshya started off the match on a winning note, taking the first game 21-16 against the world No. 20 but then lost the next two 15-21, 18-21 to crash out in one hour and 20 minutes.
Lakshya fought back twice from huge deficits (1-8, 8-14) and played some sensational points in gruelling rallies, but some untimely errors eventually cost him the match.
This was Lakshya's first defeat against Rasmus in three meetings and with this, India's men's singles campaign at the BWF tournament also came to an end.
Saina Nehwal Goes Down Fighting
Meanwhile, India's women's singles challenge also ended with Saina Nehwal's defeat in the second round.
Nehwal went down fighting 9-21, 12-21 against reigning Olympic Champion and world No. 3 Chen Yufei to suffer her third loss in succession against the Chinese shuttler.
Indian Men's Doubles Pair Pulls Out
The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out of the India Open 2023 due to a groin injury to the former.
