Lakshya Sen made a place in the final 8, the victory campaign of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also continues

Hong Kong India’s Lakshya Sen has reached the men’s singles quarter -finals of a top BWF World Tour competition for the first time in six months, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the final eight of the men’s doubles of the men’s doubles of $ 500,000 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Badminton Tournament here on Thursday. Former bronze medalist of the World Championship and currently ranked 20th in the world rankings defeated compatriot HS Prannoy 15-21, 21-18, 21-10 in the second round.

The 23 -year -old player, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, will next face Kodai Naraoka of Japan or Ayush Shetty of India. In this session, Lakshya, who was struggling with injuries and poor form, last made it to the semi -finals of All England Super 1000 in March and reached the same phase in Macau Open Super 300, but apart from this he had to be out in the early stages.

The eighth seeded Indian pair of Satwik and Chirag returned after losing the first game, defeating Thailand’s Pirachai Sukfun and Pakkapone Tiraatsakul 18-21, 21-15, 21-11 in a 63-minute match. Prannoy appeared in a good rhythm in the men’s singles match and he easily took an edge in the first game and retained the first game from the beginning to the end without any hassle.

In the second game, there was a tough fight between the two Indian players. During this time the edge kept changing hands again and again. Pranay’s smash went out when the score was equal to 18-18. Lakshya achieved two game points and pulled the match to a decisive game.

In the third and decisive game, Prannoy again took a 5–2 lead, but after that he continued to make mistakes due to which he fell behind 9-13. With the help of net shot, Lakshya gained 16-10. Prannoy continued to make mistakes and the goal took full advantage of this and achieved 10 matches points and took the match on his missing on another shot of Prannoy.

Satwik and Chirag, who won bronze medals at the World Championship last month, will face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap. The Indian pair started slow and in the first game she was trailing 8–11. After this, he returned to score 18-18, but the Thai pair scored the last three points and won the first game.