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HS Prannoy has entered the quarter-finals after defeating compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the second stage of Japan Open 2023 Badminton tournament in Tokyo on Thursday.
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At the same time, Lakshya Sen and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open 2023 Badminton tournament. The 21-year-old Sen, a Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist, defeated Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama by a 21-14, 21-16 scoreline. While Satwik Sairaj and Chirag, who won the Korea Open recently, beat Denmark's Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede by 21-17, 21-11.
In the second round of the Japan Open 2023, a thrilling match was played between HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth. Prannoy and Srikanth went toe-to-toe in what was an exhilarating opening game. Prannoy lost the first set 19-21 as Srikanth caught the momentum at the crucial juncture and took the opening game. A game down, Prannoy responded in style and took the next two games with a comprehensive margin to seal the match in 57 minutes. This was HS Prannoy's third win over Srikanth in nine head-to-head meetings. Interestingly, Prannoy's last win over his senior compatriot heading into Thursday's fixture came at the 2019 Japan Open.
Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, had very little trouble in his round of 16 match. He dispatched Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama by a 21-14, 21-16 scoreline. Tsuneyama, an Asian Games bronze medallist, upset Indonesian world No. 2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the opening round. Another Japanese shuttler, Kiko Watanabe, will be Lakshya's next opponent.
Satwik-Chirag, who won Korea Open Super 500, Swiss Open Super 300 and Indonesia Open Super 1000 titles this season, will face reigning Olympic champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin of Chinese Taipei in the quarters.
However, the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand has bowed out of the Japan Open 2023 tournament. They went down 21-23, 19-21 to the Japanese pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.