Lakshya to face Lin Dan

Auckland, May 2: Teenager Lakshya Sen defeated June Wei Cheam of Malaysia and will play the biggest match of his nascent career against the legendary Lin Dan in the second round of the New Zealand Open badminton championship on Wednesday.

Seventeen-year-old Sen defeated June Wei Cheam of Malaysia 21-11, 21-16 to enter the second round where he faces top seed Dan. The Chinese legend got the better of Takuma Ueda of Japan 21-13, 2112.

B. Sai Praneeth, Ajay Jayaram and Sameer Verma also recorded victories in the opening round.

Third seed Praneeth made short work of Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-11, 21-19, winning in 41 minutes.

Fifth seed Verma beat Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-8, 21-10 in less than 30 minutes.

Jayaram upset fourth seeded Taiwanese Hsu Jen Hao 21-23, 21-12, 21-18 in 62 minutes.

Sameer’s brother Sourabh lost to reigning Australian national champion Abhinav Manota 19- 21, 21-14, 19-21 while sixth seed Tomy Sugiarto of Indonesia beat Subhankar Dey 2118, 21-10.

Indian women singles players disappointed as Jakka Vaishnavi Reddy and Chukka Sai Uttejitha Rao lost in the first round.

Vaishnavi lost to Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen of Australia 16-21, 19-21 while Uttejitha went down to qualifier Yukino Nakai of Japan 14-21, 1321.

In women’s doubles, J. Meghana and S. Poorvisha Ram defeated Australia’s Erena Calder Hawking and Jasmin Chung Man 21-17, 21-14.

In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy overcame Jonathan Curtin and Dhanny Oud 21-14, 21-15.

— PTI