Lakshya upsets Ikhsan, in final of Asian junior meet
India’s Lakshya Sen booked his place in the final of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships after beating fourth-seeded Indonesian Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay 21-7, 21-14 in the semi-finals in Jakarta on Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Indian, who had beaten second seed Li Shifeng in the quarter-finals on Friday, will now face top seed Kunlavut Vitidsaran of Indonesia in Sunday’s title clash.
Sen started the last-four clash brightly and raced to an early lead in the opening game. He took only 16 minutes to finish it off as Rumbay struggled to get going.
The second game was a tight affair but Sen managed to get past the finishing line without breaking much sweat, winning the match in 40 minutes.
“It feels good to be in the final. I am happy with the way I am playing now and hope to maintain the tempo in tomorrow’s final,” he said.
“I have never faced him before. But I will definitely try and give my best shot against the top seed,” Sen added.
The 16-year-old Indian shuttler had earlier won a bronze medal at the continental event in 2016.
Other Indians to have won medals at the event in past are Gautam Thakkar (gold) in 1965, Pranav Chopra/Prajkta Sawant (bronze) in 2009, Sameer Verma (silver) and PV Sindhu (bronze) in 2011 and PV Sindhu (gold) and Sameer Verma (bronze) in 2012.
NEW DELHI:
INDIA BEAT KIWIS IN HOCKEY, TAKE 2-0 LEAD
The Indian men’s hockey team registered its second successive victory against New Zealand, beating the visitors 3-1 to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series here.
Rupinder Pal Singh (18th), SV Sunil (27th) and Mandeep Singh (56th) scored for India while Stephen Jenness pulled (24th) one back for New Zealand.
After a goalless first quarter, India opened scoring in the second quarter. They won three back-to-back PCs in the 18th minute and Rupinder was thirdtime lucky after two of his previous flicks were blocked by New Zealand’s first rusher.
BENGALURU:
JEEVAN, DIVIJ OUSTED
India’s challenge ended in the doubles event of ATP Hall of Fame Open following defeats of Divij Sharan and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan with their respective partners in the semi-finals in Newport, USA.
Second seeded Divij and Jackson Withrow lost 3-6, 4-6 to Jonathan Erlich and Artem Sitak while Jeevan and Austin Krajicek lost a tough match to Marcelo Arevalo and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.
NEW DELHI: