All England Open 2024: Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag, and Ashwini-Tanisha secure wins to enter second round
The second set of first-round matches of the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships 2024 were underway at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Wednesday, March 13.
After a disappointing first day for the Indian contingent, with PV Sindhu being the only shuttler to win their match, Day 2 turned out to be much better.
Lakshya Sen, the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, and the top-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty all won their matches to enter the second round.
A closer look at the results of the Indian shuttlers at the All England Open 2024
In the men’s singles category, Lakshya Sen took on Denmark's Magnus Johannesen.
The 22-year-old Indian, who had a fabulous run at the French Open last week, reaching the semifinals, continued his brilliant run. Sen took a mere 40 minutes to get the better of his Danish opponent and beat him with a 21-14, 21-15 scoreline. The Indian shuttler will now take on fourth-seeded Anders Antonsen in the next round.
After HS Prannoy and former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth crashed out yesterday, apart from Lakshya Sen, India’s only other remaining men’s singles representative, Priyanshu Rajawat took on Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo. Despite putting up a good fight, Rajawat went down 19-21, 21-11, 9-21.
In the women’s doubles category, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda put on a great performance in their first cameo at the championships but succumbed to Japan's Rin Iwanaga and K. Nakanishi, with a scoreline of 21-9, 21-9.
On the other hand, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa secured a comfortable victory against Hong Kong's Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam, keeping India’s hopes in the category alive. Crasto and Ponnappa won the match with a scoreline of 21-13, 21-18.
The Indian pair, who are looking to secure a place at the Paris Olympics, will now face the fifth-seeded Chinese pair of Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu in the pre-quarterfinals.
The top-seeded men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty displayed their dominance on the court once again with a convincing victory over the highly experienced Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Rankireddy and Shetty, who won the French Open last week and have reached the final of every tournament they have played this year, comfortably beat their Indonesian opponents with a scoreline of 21-18, 21-14.
They will now face M. Fikri and Bagas Maulana, another Indonesian pair, in the second round.