Kumamoto (Japan), 13 November. India’s top shuttler Lakshya Sen, currently ranked 15th in the BWF world rankings, entered the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan Open badminton tournament with a straight-game win over Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh on Thursday. But veteran HS Prannoy lost in another match of the Super 500 tournament.

Sen beats Jia Heng of Singapore in straight games

World Championship 2021 bronze medalist Sen, seeded seventh at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium here, defeated 20th-ranked shuttler Teh 21-13, 21-11 in a match that lasted 39 minutes on court number one. 24-year-old Sen will now face a tough challenge from former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarter-finals.

Prannoy defeated by Dennis shuttler Gemke in straight games

But 33-year-old H.S. has slipped to 35th place in the world rankings. Prannoy lost to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the eighth match of the day played on court number one. Prannoy was defeated by Rasmus 21-18, 21-15 in the second round match which lasted 46 minutes.

Talking about the target, they had taken a lead of 8-5 in the first game. After this Teh made a comeback and gained a slight lead of 10-9. But by the break the Indian player again regained the lead. There was a tough contest between the two shuttlers till the score of 14-13, but after this Lakshya won the first game by scoring seven consecutive points. In the second game, Sen performed well from the beginning and soon took a 5-0 lead. He dashed his opponent’s hopes by taking an 11-3 lead at the break.