Indonesia Masters: P V Sindhu, Lakshya Sen knocked out

Jakarta: P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen suffered straight-game losses to their respective opponents in the women's and men's singles quarterfinals, marking the end of Indian challenge in the $500,000 Indonesia Masters badminton tournament, in Jakarta, on Friday.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, lost to top seed and World No. 4 Chen Yu Fei of China 13-21, 17-21 in the quarterfinal contest that lasted 42 minutes to bow out of the Super 500 event. With Friday's loss, Sindhu trails Fei 6-8 in head-to-head record. The Indian's last win over Fei was way back in 2019.

In the men's singles, Lakshya, a 2021 world championships bronze medallist, was beaten 18-21, 20-22 by Thailand's rising talent Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul in a close match that lasted 46 minutes.

The 21-year-old Thai had also accounted for 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinals.

On Thursday, Kidambi Srikanth and Anmol Kharb had bowed out of the men's and women's singles competition respectively.

The men's doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun also lost in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday. There was no Indian participation in the women's doubles, while two Indian pairs had bowed out of the tournament in the first round. Agencies

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