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Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy marched into the pre-quarterfinals of the ongoing Kumamoto Masters Japan 2025 badminton tournament after winning their respective clashes of the first round on Wednesday.
HS Prannoy, 35th in the men's singles badminton rankings, battled past Malaysia's world No. 22 Jun Hao Leong 16-21, 21-13, 23-21 in a 68-minute thriller at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, according to Olympics.com. The 33-year-old Indian badminton player, ranked world No. 6 before injuries and a bout of chikungunya disrupted his form in 2023, showed glimpses of his best to outlast his higher-ranked opponent. After conceding the first game despite being level at 13-all, Prannoy shifted gears in the second to level the contest. The decider saw momentum swing both ways as Prannoy led 19-15 before Jun Hao Leong clawed back to 19-all. Prannoy, however, held his nerve to clinch the match 23-21, saving two match points along the way. It has been a difficult season for the 33-year-old Prannoy, who has not advanced past the second round in any of his previous 14 BWF World Tour appearances in 2025. Before the Kumamoto meet, Prannoy featured at the Korea Open in September, where he made an opening round exit after being forced to withdraw from his match due to injury. Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, seeded seventh at the BWF Super 500 tournament, enjoyed a far smoother outing, as reported by Olympics.com. Sen eased past Japan's unseeded Koki Watanabe 21-12, 21-16 in just 39 minutes to set up a round-of-16 clash with Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh. Among other Indians, Ayush Shetty - this year's US Open badminton champion - bowed out after a 21-16, 21-11 loss to 2023 world silver medallist Kodai Naraoka of Japan. The result reversed their previous meeting, where Ayush Shetty had beaten the Japanese player in straight games at the Hong Kong Open. Kiran George, meanwhile, went down to Malaysia's Kok Jing Hong with a 22-20, 21-10 scoreline. Tharun Mannepalli also lost his first-round match against the Republic of Korea's Jeon Hyeok-jin 21-9, 21-19. In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde lost to the USA's Presley Smith and Jennie Gai 21-12, 19-21, 22-20. They were the only Indian players competing in doubles at the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2025. Teenager Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, India's only entry in women's singles, could not make it to the main round after losing in the qualifiers on Tuesday. (ANI)
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