HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen ensured a winning start for India at the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Tuesday.
While Prannoy registered a hard-fought 21-19, 22-20 victory against Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei, Lakshya upset fifth seed Chou Tien Chen of Taipei 21-18, 21-19.
Though Chen played well in patches, Lakshya always had the upper hand in both the games.
Prannoy won eight of the nine points to move to 12-4 in the first game. He looked in great touch and advanced to 19-13 before Wang found his rhythm and caught up with Prannoy at 19-19. But Prannoy won the last three big points to take the first game.
It was a see-saw battle in the second game from the fifth point. Towards the end of it, Wang saved a match point but Prannoy prevailed by winning the next two points.
(AI image)
