Lakshya Sen, India’s star shuttler, advanced to the men’s singles round of 16 at the Arctic Open Super 500 tournament in Finland when his opponent Rasmus Gemke withdrew from the opening round match on Wednesday. Sen, who missed out on his first Olympic medal in Paris after losing in the bronze medal play-off, will face the winner of the seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei versus qualifier Arnaud Merkle of France in the following round. Kiran George is the only other Indian competing on Wednesday. He’ll face Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei later in the day.
Earlier on Tuesday, emerging Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod continued her remarkable run this year, defeating world No. 23 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei and advancing to the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals. The 23-year-old southpaw, who won her first title in over two years at the Azerbaijan International in February, proved her mettle in a hard-fought victory, 21-19, 24-22 in 57 minutes.
However, the challenge will become more difficult in the following round, when the Nagpur shuttler will meet Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, a former world champion.
Another promising Indian shuttler, Unnati Hooda, upset Brazil’s Juliana Viana Viera 21-16, 23-25, 21-17 to set up a match against Canadian Michelle Li.