PV Sindhu Bows Out Of World Championships, Lakshya Sen Sails Into Third round

Former champion PV Sindhu's wretched run continued as she bowed out of the World Championships, but HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen produced commanding performances to enter the third round in men's singles in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The most successful Indian at World Championships with five medals, Sindhu lacked any sting in her attack and went down tamely 14-21 14-21 to old nemesis Nozomi Okuhara of Japan, a 2017 gold medallist and silver winner in 2019. It is the first time in her career that Sindhu, seeded 16th, has failed to reach the quarterfinals at the prestigious tournament.

In men's singles, world No 9 Prannoy produced a masterclass as he tamed Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-9 21-14 to set up a clash with 2021 champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

Earlier, Sen, a bronze medallist at the 2021 edition, prevailed 21-11 21-12 over the world No 51 Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin.

The Indian, thus, settled his score against the Korean, who had defeated him in their only meeting at the Asia Team Championship in 2022.

The 11th seeded Indian is likely to face third seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the next round.

Sen has a 4-5 head-to-head count against Vitidsarn, whom he had defeated on way to Canada Open Super 500 title.

Sen was alert and took the initiatives during the rallies, showing his retrieval skills, speed and shot selection to dominate the proceedings.

The Indian lead 5-1 and slowly kept extending the gap against a struggling Jeon, who lacked the finishing punch during the fast-paced rallies.

Sen entered the interval with 11-6 lead and kept things under a firm grip even after resumption to quickly move to 18-11 before sealing the first game with three straight points.

In the second game, Sen opened up a 4-1