Birmingham, Mar 14 (UNI) India’s Lakshya Sen bowed out of the All England Open Badminton Championships 2025 after suffering a straight-games defeat against China’s Shi Feng Li in the men’s singles quarterfinals on Friday.
Lakshya, ranked 15th in the world, lost 10-21, 16-21 to the reigning Asian Games champion and world No. 6 Li in a 45-minute contest at the Utilita Arena.
The Indian shuttler made a strong start, leading 4-3 in the opening exchanges, but his Chinese opponent seized control with a nine-point streak to take charge of the first game. Sen managed to collect only six more points before Li closed out the opener comfortably.
In the second game, Sen mounted a brief comeback, leading 11-8 at the mid-game interval. However, Li shifted gears post-break, securing victory and improving his head-to-head record against the Indian to 5-2.
Sen, a semifinalist at the 2024 edition and runner-up in 2022, failed to replicate his past success at the prestigious Super 1000 tournament.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles, India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also crashed out in the quarterfinals, losing 14-21, 10-21 to China’s second-seeded pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.
Jolly and Gayatri fought back from an early 0-3 deficit in the opening game to trail by just one point at the mid-game interval. However, Liu-Tan asserted their dominance, conceding just four more points before wrapping up the first game.
The second game proved even more one-sided, as the Chinese duo maintained their stranglehold, sealing the match in 46 minutes.
Earlier in the tournament, India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu made a first-round exit in the women’s singles on Wednesday. Malvika Bansod, ranked 28th in the world, also bowed out on Thursday, while men’s doubles stars Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were forced to withdraw from their pre-quarterfinal match due to Chirag’s back muscle strain.
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