India’s Lakshya Sen created sensation, securing his maiden Super 500 title by winning the Yonex-Sunrise India Open with a stunning straight-game victory over reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles final in New Delhi on Sunday.
He is the third Indian men’s singles player after Prakash Padukone in 1981 and Srikanth Kidambi in 2015 to win the India Open title. I
It was after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first team from the country to win India’s flagship tournament after toppling three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
The 20-year-old Sen, who had claimed his maiden world championships medal with a bronze in Spain last month, produced a fine performance to outshine the fifth seeded shuttler 24-22 21-17 in the summit clash that lasted 54 minutes.
Lakshya Sen went in the first interval leading Kean Yew Loh 11-8. The Indian held the momentum to extend his lead to 16-9. However, Loh pulled the contest back but gave away two game points to lose the first game.
Lakshya Sen continued to play attacking shots in the second game and squeezed out a couple of unforced errors from the world champion to lead 11-9 at the break. The 20-year-old from Almora kept his cool to pocket the game and the title.
With this win, Lakshya Sen became the third Indian to win the men’s singles India Open title after Prakash Padukone in 1981 and Kidambi Srikanth in 2015.
“I didn’t come with a lot of expectations in this tournament as I didn’t get a lot of practice after the World Championships. But I came into the final with a much better rhythm as I played a few good three game matches and I played more freely in the final today,” Lakshya said after the match.
Earlier in the day, doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty saved five game points to beat top seeds and World No 2 pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan 21-16, 26-24.
