All England Badminton Open 2023: Satwiksairaj-Chirag, Lakshya Sen crash out in second round

Star Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen made a shocking exit from the All England Championships after losing to World No.2 Anders Antonsen in straight games in Birmingham on Thursday. Lakshya gave some fight before losing 13-21, 15-21 in the 51-minute men's singles contest to Denmark's Anders Antonsen.

Sen's world ranking dropped to 19th after he was eliminated in the first round of the German Open last week. This was another crucial week for the 21-year-old, who finished runner-up at last year's All-England Open. However, Lakshya was unable to overcome Antonsen in the men's singles.

So far, the Indian shuttler's 2023 season has been underwhelming. Sen's best performance in four BWF World Tour events prior to this week was a quarter-final appearance at the Indonesia Masters. With this win, Antonsen took



revenge for the defeat, he suffered at the hands of Lakshya at the same stage of the All-England Open last year. The Indian star came through 21-16, 21-18 in that clash.

Even in the men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty crashed out after losing to the Chinese pairing of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. Liang Wei Keng & Wang Chang defeated Satwik-Chirag 21-10, 17-21, 19-21 despite the Indian duo's domination in the first game.

Earlier in the day, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly needed 50 minutes to beat Fukushima and Hirota of Japan 21-14, 24-22 in Birmingham's second round. Gayatri and Treesa were cruising to an easy victory after dominating the opening exchanges of the match. In the second game, the Indian duo built a 9-point lead, but the experienced Japanese stars fought back.