Badminton: India's Lakshya Sen overcomes Kean Yew, wins India Open
India's Lakshya Sen won the India Open by beating reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew in the men's singles final. Sen claimed a straight-game win (24-22, 21-17) to secure his maiden Super 500 title. The Indian had won his maiden World Championships medal (bronze) in Spain last month. Meanwhile, India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also won the India Open in the doubles category.
Sen looked solid in the first game, thereby gaining a healthy lead of 16-10. However, Yew managed restored parity at 19-19. The pair continued to spar till the Indian won the first game 24-22. Sen and Yew were neck-to-neck in the second game, with the former leading 11-10. The Indian won two straight points after leading 19-17 to win the championship.
Sen defeated Adham Hatem Elgamal and Felix Burestedt in the first two matches, respectively. Sen then overcame his Indian counterpart Prannoy HS. He came from behind to win 14-21, 21-9, 21-14. In the semi-finals, Sen beat NG Tze Yong 19-21, 21-16, 21-12. The Indian claimed a comfortable win in the final against Yew to clinch his first Super 500 title on the BWF Tour.
In December 2021, Sen clinched the bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships in Huelva, Spain. Srikanth Kidambi defeated Sen 21-17, 14-21, 17-21 in the semi-final. Notably, Yew went on to win the gold medal after beating Srikanth.
Earlier in the day, Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the men's doubles title (India Open). They beat Indonesian top seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight games (21-16, 26-24) to clinch their maiden Indian Open title. Rankireddy and Shetty had earlier defeated France's Fabien Delrue and William Villeger 21-10, 21-18 in the semi-finals.
Among women, Thai shuttler Supanida Katethong downed Busanan Ongbamrungphan to win the singles final. Meanwhile, Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han defeated Malaysia's Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei to win the mixed doubles final. Thailand's Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard were crowned champions of women's doubles after they beat Anastasiia Akchurina and Olga Morozova of Russia.
