Lakshya Sen stunned former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 21-10, 16-21, 21-19 in the first round of the Malaysia Masters BWF Super-500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Making a comeback after an injury layoff, Lakshya was severe on Loh, particularly in the third game. Loh had won a silver at the Asian Championships last month.
PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth joined Lakshya in the second round. On Thursday, Lakshya plays Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong.
While Sindhu laboured to down Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-13, 17-21, 21-18; Srikanth trounced Toma Junior Popov of France 21-12, 21-16 and Prannoy exacted revenge on Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 win. Chen had defeated Prannoy at the Sudirman Cup.
In the second round, Prannoy faces Li Shi Feng of China. Srikanth plays world No. 5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. The three-time former world junior champion had beaten Srikanththrice so far.
Despite a 4-0 win-loss record against world No. 33 Line, Sindhu toiled for 64 minutes. Sindhu made a brisk start by winning the first game but faltered in the second. Line built early leads before coming up with a four-point burst to close the game. Sindhu recovered from the reversal and clinched the decider.
Sindhu plays Aya Ohori next. She enjoys 12-0 record against the Japanese, ranked No. 28 in the world. Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod lost their first round matches.
With the last minute pull out of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, there was no Indian presence in the doubles categories.
