All England Open 2022: While Lakshya Sen progressed through the men’s singles semi-finals, top-ranked Indian pair Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty lost to Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon in the quarter-finals, their 11th straight loss to world No. 1 pair Indonesia .
Lakshya Sen reached semifinals of All England Open 2022 (AP Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lakshya Sen reached the semifinals in men’s singles
- Satwik and Chirag lost 22-24, 17-21 to world No. 1 Sukamuljo and Gideon
- Gayatri Gopichand and Jolly Treesa also fight in women’s doubles
India’s rising star Lakshya Sen has reached the semi-finals of the prestigious All England Open 2022 after his Chinese opponent Lu Guang Zu scored a free-kick during their quarter-finals match in Birmingham on Friday. The top-ranked Indian men’s singles shutter is getting a much-needed rest after what has been a tumultuous European season so far.
Lakshya Sen meets the winner of the quarter-final match between defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and former world No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan on Saturday.
Lakshya, 20, is India’s only singles hope at the All England Championships after the likes of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth were knocked out in Thursday’s round of 16.
Lakshya has been in terrific form for the past 6 months as the Indian won the bronze medal at the World Championships last year before winning his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open earlier this year. Last week Lakshya stunned world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen to finish second at the German Open.
He then reached the semi-finals at the All England past world No. 3 Anders Antonsen and world No. 5 Anthony Ginting in straight matches at Birmingham.
11-0: THE DOUBLE HURDLE
Earlier in the day, India’s top-ranked men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, lost in heartbreaking fashion to world no. 1 Kevin Sukamuljo and Marcus Gideon of Indonesia. The 8th-ranked Indian pair were edged out in even matches, but the score doesn’t tell the story of the fight that was shown.
The boys played their hearts out in a highly entertaining MD match, just not our time, comeback stronger #AllEngland2022#Badminton pic.twitter.com/lrIALd045P
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) March 18, 2022
Satwiksairaj and Chirag put relentless pressure on the “Minions” in the opening game, having 5 game points at 20-15. However, they suffered a meltdown where they saw 6 straight points licking. Eventually, the Indian pair lost the opening game 22-24 after a series of rallies that left the Birmingham crowd in awe.
Satwik and Chirag did well to stay in contention despite the crushing defeat in the opening game. However, the top-ranked pairing made it to the semi-finals of the men’s doubles event with a score of 24-22, 21-17.
Remarkably, this is Satwik and Chirag’s 11th consecutive defeat on the Indonesia Stars Tour as the Indians have yet to find a way to get past the top pair.
