Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen crashed out in the opening round of the Thailand Open, while Aakarshi Kashyap and Unnati Hooda advanced after hard-fought victories in the Super 500 tournament on Wednesday.
Sen fell to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in a tense three-game battle, losing 18-21 21-9 17-21 in a men’s singles match that lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes.
After dropping the first game, Sen found his rhythm in the second, dominating with aggressive rallies. However, Nguyen held his nerve in a close-decider, edging ahead at 17-13 before sealing the win.
Priyanshu Rajawat too made a first-round exit as he went down 13-21 21-17 16-21 against Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
In women’s singles, Aakarshi survived a thrilling contest against Japan’s Kaoru Sugiyama, winning 21-16 20-22 22-20. It was a match of narrow margins with the Indian holding her nerve in the final stages of the decider.
Unnati also fought her way through to the next round, registering a gritty 21-14 18-21 23-21 victory over Thailand’s Thamonwan Nithiittikrai.
However, it was the end of the road for Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, who lost her women’s singles opener 18-21 7-21 to eighth seed Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.
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