Delhi: India Open: Lakshya Sen from Almora becomes India Open Champion, Satwik and Chirag win men’s doubles title

New Delhi:  World Championships bronze medalist and third seed Lakshya Sen of Almora in Uttarakhand clinched the men’s singles title at the India Open badminton tournament by defeating world champion Loh Keen Yu Lup of Singapore on Sunday. Lakshya won the title 24–22, 21–17 in successive games, while the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated three-time world champion and top-seeded Indonesian pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan 21- 16, 26-24 to win the men’s doubles title.

Watch the Video and what Lakshya said-

Young Lakshya defeated fifth seed Loh in 54 minutes in the final played at KD Jadhav Indoor Hall of Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. With this success, Lakshya repeated the achievement of Prakash Padukone in 1981 and Kidambi Srikanth in 2015 to win this title. With this win, Lakshya raised his career record against Loh to 3-2. Lakshya had taken a 16-9 and 19-14 lead in the first game. Loh then went on to lead 20-19 with six consecutive points. Lakshya leveled 20-20. Loh took a 22-21 lead but Lakshya took three consecutive points to win the first game 24-22. After taking a 16-11 lead in the second game, there was no looking back. Loh made a comeback attempt to 17-19 but Lakshya settled the game and match with two points and became the new India Open champions. Lakshya has become the fifth Indian to win this title.

Earlier, the Indian pair won their match in 43 minutes. The Indian pair won the first game easily but struggled for a point each in the second game. Rankireddy and Chirag were leading 19-17 in the second game but the opposition pair took three points to take a 20-19 lead. The Indian pair leveled the score at 20-20. After this, Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan continued to lead one point each but the Indian pair kept on leveling the scores. The Indian pair finished the game and the match with two consecutive points at 24-24.

Earlier, second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan won the women’s singles title by defeating compatriot and sixth seed Supanida Katethong 22-20, 19-21, 21-13 in a tight match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes. The women’s doubles title went to Thailand and the mixed doubles title went to Indonesia.