Our Bureau
Singapore
The Singapore Open Super 750 badminton tournament started on Tuesday, May 27th in Singapore. India’s first day in the tournament ended up being bitter sweet as their doubles team won their first match in the tournament but Lakshya Sen was forced to retire due to severe back pain.
The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had a winning return to the court after their exit from the All England Open in March due to Chirag’s back injury. The pair did not seem rusty even a bit in their return as they defeated Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal. They won both games 21-16 and 21-13 in just under 40 minutes in the round of 32 in the tournament. The former no.1 ranked pair are currently ranked 27 in the world and they defeated the 41st ranked Malaysian duo for the second time in their career.
Although the doubles pair won, the Indian crowd did not have a chance to celebrate as Lakshya Sen, India’s no. 1 Singles Badminton player and was forced to retire during his opening match of the tournament against Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei. Their matchup was a highly anticipated one as they both are ranked highly, Lin is currently 19th in the world while Sen is ranked 17th as of now.
Lakshya’s father and coach DK Sen told PTI, “Lakshya had to retire from his Singapore Open match due to lower back pain and spasm, which he had been experiencing since last Saturday during practice in Singapore. Despite trying his best, he wasn’t fully fit. The pain worsened during the match, and to prevent further injury, he pulled out of the third set. Our team will now focus on his recovery for upcoming tournaments. Recovery is our top priority now. We’re working hard to get Lakshya fit and ready for Indonesia.”
The match between Lin and Sen was turning out to be a thriller as both players won one game each in the match and the final game would’ve decided the winner. Lakshya won the first game 21-15 but Lin won the second game 21-17. But the back pain took its toll and Lakshya was trailing 5-13 in game 3 when he decided to not play further and retire.
