Arctic Open 2024: Indian Challenge Ends After Lakshya Sen Loses in Pre-Quarter Finals

India's challenge in Arctic Open 2024 ended after Commonwealth Games Champion Lakshya Sen lost in the pre-quarterfinals round of the ongoing badminton tournament on Thursday (October 10) at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

In the pre-quarters, the world number 19 Lakhshya went down fighting to Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, who ranked 10th and seeded 7th, by a scoreline of 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 in one hour and 10 minutes.

Lakshya, who playing for the first time since missing out on an Olympic medal in Paris 2024 in August, matched the seventh seeded Chinese Taipei shuttler in early exchanges.

The Indian gained momentum to lead by 13-7 but his opponent fought back to level the scores at 15-15 and take lead. However, Lakshya won final four points to start off the match with a win.

In the second game, Lakshya had a 9-5 lead but fumbled it after his opponent levelled the scores at 13-13. Eventually, the Indian lost his momentum completely in the decider game which was relatively more one-sided.

This was Lakshya's fourth defeat to Chou in six matches. In their previous match at Paris Olympics, Lakshya had emerged victorious in the quarterfinal clash.

Earlier, Lakshya, who resumed his action on in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour, had received a walkover in the first round of the Arctic Open 2024 after 28th ranked Danish opponent Rasmus Gemke withdrew from the tournament.

Apart from Lakshya, Kiran George, who progressed from qualification round, also lost to Indonesia's current Asian champion Jonatan Christie 21-17, 21-8 in the pre-quarters. Kiran was heading into the game on the back of a win over higher-ranked Wang Tzu Wei in the first round.

In the women's singles, India's 17-year-old women's sensation Unnati Hooda fell to former CWG Champion Canada's Michelle Li in straight two games by 21-10, 21-19. Michelle had also beaten two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu in the first round on Tuesday (October 8).

Aakarshi Kashyap also lost to second-seeded Chinese star Han Yue 21-9, 21-8 while Malvika Bansod succumbed to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon with a 21-15, 21-8 scoreline.

There were no competitors in the men's and women's doubles, but the lone mixed doubles pair also did not do well. India's Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath lost to fourth-seeded Cheng Xing-Zhang Chi of China by 21-12, 21-15.