Badminton
Lakshya Sen advances, PV Sindhu, Dhruv-Tanisha suffer early exits at Hong Kong Open 2025
Sindhu took the opening game 21-15 but went down 16-21, 19-21.
After Kim's late resurgence in the first game, PV Sindhu faded away. (Photo credit: BAI)
India’s Lakshya Sen defeated Wang Tzu Wei 22-20, 16-21, 21-15 to reach the R16 of the Hong Kong Open on Wednesday.
However, PV Sindhu suffered a first-round exit at the Hong Kong Open 2025, losing a hard-fought contest to Denmark’s Line Christophersen. Sindhu took the opening game 21-15 but went down 16-21, 19-21 in just under an hour.
There was further disappointment for India in mixed doubles, as Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 16-21, 11-21 to Taiwan’s Chen Cheng-Kuan and Hsu Ya Ching in their opening match.
The results came a day after contrasting fortunes for Indian shuttlers in the qualifying rounds and men’s doubles. Kiran George secured his place in the main draw by defeating compatriot S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian 21-18, 21-14 in the qualifiers, after earlier wins over Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei. Sankar advanced past England’s Wang Yue Hang but fell to George in the decider.
Tharun Mannepalli created an upset in his opening qualifier, stunning former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 21-13, before bowing out against Malaysia’s Justin Hoh in three games. Both Srikanth and Mannepalli exited in the qualifiers.
In men’s doubles, eighth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty carried their recent World Championships bronze-winning form into Hong Kong. The duo overcame Chinese Taipei’s Wang Chi-Lin and Chiu Hsiang Chieh 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 in their round-of-32 match to enter the last 16.
The Hong Kong Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, runs from September 9–14, offering crucial ranking points as players build toward the 2026 season.
