In Badminton, H S Prannoy outsmarted his compatriot S Kidambi in Japan Open 2023 by 19-21, 21-9,21-9. Earlier, India’s Lakshya Sen beat Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama by 21-14, 21-16. With this, both Prannoy and Sen have advanced to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
In the men’s doubles category, star Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the next round. They defeated Danish duo of Lasse Mølhede and Jeppe Bay in straight games 21-17, 21-11 to enter the quarter-finals. However, in women’s doubles, India’s Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly bowed out in the second round, after being defeated by Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan 21-23, 19-21.
Japan Open is one of the five Super 750 competitions. The Nippon Badminton Association hosts the tournament each year since 1977. The current event is taking place at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium. No Indian has ever won this competition, thus all eyes will be on Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Satwik, and Chirag. India hopes to break the drought this time with Lakshaya Sen and Pronnoy going good so far.
