Lakshya Sen in action© X (Twitter)
India's Lakshya Sen battled hard against China's Lu Guang Zu but ultimately lost in three games to make an early exit from the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Tuesday. Lakshya, a 2021 World Championship bronze medallist, squandered an opening game advantage, losing 21-12 19-21 14-21 to Lu in a men's singles opening-round match, which lasted 70 minutes. The 22-year-old from Almora, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, had previously lost in the second round of the Arctic Open in Finland last week. Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu moved into the second round after her opponent Pai Yu Po of Chines Taipei retired midway in the second game with the score reading 21-8 13-7 in favour of the Indian.
However, Malvika Bansod, who had reached the quarterfinals at the China Open, couldn't cross the opening hurdle, going down to Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Linh 13-21 12-21 in women's singles.
Aakarshi Kashyap also faced an early exit, losing 13-21 12-21 to seventh-seeded Thai shuttler Supanida Katethong.
Panda sisters -- Rutaparna and Swetaparna -- also made a first-round exit after losing 18-21 22-24 against Chinese Taipei's Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun in women's doubles.
Lakshya, competing in his second event since the Olympics, kept pace with his Chinese rival before pulling ahead at 8-8 to take an 11-9 advantage at the break.
The Indian kept his nose ahead after resumption and jumped to 20-11 with a seven-point burst to comfortably pocket the opening game.
After the change of sides, Lakshya surged to 8-2 but Lu rallied to narrow the gap to 11-12.
The Indian extended his lead to 16-11 but Lu's persistence paid off as he kept troubling Lakshya and reversed the situation, taking a 19-18 lead. The Indian drew parity but Lu got the required two points to script a comeback.
In the decider, Lu maintained his composure and pulled ahead to 14-9, while the Indian struggled to keep pace. In a jiffy, Lu seized six match points and sealed the victory when Lakshya went long.