Denmark Open: Lakshya Sen Exits In First Round After Hard Fought Battle Against China's Lu Guang Zu

India's Lakshya Sen battled hard against China's Lu Guang Zu but ultimately lost in three games to make an early exit from Denmark Open Super 750 bminton tournament here on Tuesday.

Lakshya, a 2021 World championship bronze medallist, squandered an opening game vantage, losing 21-12 19-21 14-21 to Lu in a men's singles opening round match which lasted 70 minutes.

22-year-old from Almora, who finished fourth at Paris Olympics , h previously lost in second round of Arctic Open in Finland last week.

Malvika Bansod, who h reached quarterfinals at China Open, also couldn't cross opening hurdle, going down to Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh 13-21 12-21 in women's singles.

Panda sisters -- Rutaparna and Swetaparna -- also me a first-round exit after losing 18-21 22-24 against Chinese Taipei's Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun in women's doubles.

Lakshya, competing in his second event since Olympics , kept pace with his Chinese rival before pulling ahe at 8-8 to take an 11-9 vantage at break.

Indian kept his nose ahe after resumption and jumped to 20-11 with a seven-point burst to comfortably pocket opening game.

After change of sides, Lakshya surged to 8-2 but Lu rallied to narrow gap to 11-12.

Indian extended his le to 16-11 but Lu's persistence paid off as he kept troubling Lakshya and reversed situation, taking 19-18 le. Indian drew parity but Lu got required two points to script a comeback.

In decider, Lu maintained his composure and pulled ahe to 14-9, while Indian struggled to keep pace. In a jiffy, Lu seized six match points and sealed victory when Lakshya went long.