French Open badminton: Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag; Treesa-Gayatri advance to second round

India’s top singles player Lakshya Sen along with doubles pairs, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the second round of the French Open Badminton Championship here on Tuesday.

Young shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat went down in straight games to World No.1 Viktor Axelsen, 21-8,21-15 in a first-round match of the BWF World Tour Super 750 event.

Lakshya got the better of Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama in the three games, coming back after losing the first game to come back and won the match in 55 minutes. Lakshya lost the first game 15-21 but came back to win the next two games 21-15, 21-3 to clinch victory.

The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the Malaysian pair Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in straight games to move into the next round. The Indian double combine won 21-13, 24-22 in the BWF World Tour Super 750 event being played at Arena de la Chapelle in the French capital.

In women’s doubles, the top Indian pair of Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated compatriots Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto in hard-fought three games, 16-21, 21-19, 21-17 to reach Round 2.

(IANS)