Fast-rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen made a successful re-visitation of competitive badminton, beating Christo Popov in straight games in the opening round of the USD 750,000 Denmark Open, which denoted the resumption of the international calender after a Covid constrained break of seven months.
The 19-year-old Indian, who claimed five titles including two Super 100 competitions a year ago, created a clinical performance to outsmart Popov 21-9 21-15 to arrive at the second round.
He will take on the victor of the match between Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus and Belgium’s Maxime Moreels.
“I moved quite well, that was the key. In the second game he had a lead but I had made a few mistakes. I was able to cut down on them and find my rhythm,” Lakshya, who is currently ranked world no.27, was quoted as saying by Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“I’m very happy to be playing again after seven months and it felt very normal on the court.” Lakshya looked in good touch as he moved well on the court and found his touch from the word go.
The Indian hopped to a 11-8 lead at the break in the opening game and didn’t permit his rival to make a rebound, rolling out three points to move to 14-8.
He at that point took the staying seven points on the trot as Popov could just watch vulnerably.
The second game was a more competitive affair as both the players battled tooth and nail, moving neck-and-neck till 12-12.
From that point forward, Lakshya by and by severed and moved to 15-12 and 16-14 preceding shutting the match serenely.
Denmark Open Super 750 event is the only event happening this year as the BWF had to cancel numerous competitions and delay the Asia leg and the World Tour Final to one year from now.
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