Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, Malvika Bansod Enter Second Round Of China Masters

Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen progressed to second round with superlative wins in women’s and men’s singles events at China Masters Super 750 bminton tournament here on Wednesday.

In-form Malvika Bansod, ranked 36th in world, also registered an upset, defeating Denmark’s world No. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 20-22, 23-21, 21-16 to vance to second round.

World No. 19 Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, dispatched higher-ranked Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17, 21-19 in 50 minutes, notching up her 20th win in 21 meetings with Thai shuttler.

29-year-old from Hyderab will next face Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min, while Malvika will meet eighth-seeded Supanida Katethong.

Lakshya, meanwhile, avenged his Olympic bronze medal loss with a 21-14, 13-21, 21-13 win over seventh seed Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in 57 minutes. Lakshya will next face eir Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke or Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto.

victory was a balm for Lakshya, who h lost to Lee in Paris Olympics bronze medal match from an vantageous position.

In ir first meeting since that defeat, Lakshya played with vengeance, surging to an 11-4 le in opening game before sealing it.

Lee bounced back in second game, racing to a 7-1 le before extending it to 17-8 to level contest.

In decider, Lakshya took a 5-1 le, but Lee fought back to level at 5-5. However, Lakshya held firm, taking an 11-8 le at break with a precise smash. He n moved to 14-10 with two diagonal shots before reaching 18-11 with a cross-court smash.

Indian held his nerves and wrapped up match after Lee hit wide.

Sindhu vs Busanan  

Both shuttlers started off match on an even keel with Busanan taking a 14-10 le thanks to two unforced errors by Indian.

However, Sindhu went on a roll, winning next nine points to take a 19-14 le before closing first game in her favour.

But loss in first game didn't deter Busanan as she started second game strongly. Although Sindhu trailed for most part of second game, she continued to chip away at points deficit with her aggressive play to take le for first time in game at 18-17.

star Indian shuttler n sealed match.