Sameer Verma in action© AFP
Kidambi Srikanth triumphed over Lakshya Sen in an all Indian duel to advance to the second round of the men’s singles of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Paris on Wednesday. Sameer Verma, meanwhile, recorded an upset win over Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to also reach the second round. Srikanth, the silver winner of the 2021 World Cup, defeated junior compatriot Sen 21-18 21-18 in a first round match that lasted 46 minutes.
This was only the second career match between the two top Indian shuttlers. Sen had lost to his older compatriot in their earlier meeting in the 2021 World Cup semi-finals to settle for a bronze medal.
Srikanth then faces the winner of the first round match between Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke and Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen.
The unseeded Verma, meanwhile, defeated sixth-seeded Ginting 21-15 21-23 22-20 in a hard-fought upset win in a first-round match that lasted an hour and 17 minutes.
In the deciding game, Verma made a remarkable setback. He saved two match points after a deficit of 18-20.
Verma avenged Ginting for his loss in the Swiss Open in March.
He will face Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the second round.
HS Prannoy also reached the second round of the tournament with a hard-fought win over Malaysia’s Liew Daren in the men’s singles.
Prannoy defeated his lower-ranked opponent 21-16 16-21 21-16 in a first-round match that lasted an hour and 13 minutes.
Prannoy then takes on Lu Guang Zu from China.
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In the men’s doubles, Indian pair MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to fifth-seeded Indonesian duo Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardiant 15-21 16-21 in the first round.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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