NEW DELHI: India's top badminton players, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, faced elimination in their respective men's singles matches in the French Open Super 750 tournament in Rennes, France.
In the round of 32, Srikanth was defeated by France's Toma Junior Popov, with a score of 17-21, 15-21 in just 44 minutes. Despite Srikanth's 3-1 head-to-head advantage, the 25th-ranked French player secured a comfortable victory.
Subsequently, Lakshya Sen also experienced a loss, falling 15-21, 18-21 to Arnaud Merkle, another French player.
Interestingly, Lakshya had previously defeated Merkle in 2016 when they were competing in junior events, but this marked their first meeting on the BWF World Tour.
Lakshya made a brief comeback in the second game, but it was not enough to secure a win.
It proved to be a forgettable day for the Indian squad, with both of their top players being defeated in straight games. Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen had entered this tournament following their early exits in the Denmark Open the previous week.
(With PTI inputs)
