Lakshya Sen enters second round of Arctic Open after opponent concedes match

Vantaa (Finland), Oct 9 (PTI) India’s star shuttler Lakshya Sen progressed to the men’s singles round of 16 at the Arctic Open Super 500 tournament after his opponent Rasmus Gemke withdrew from the opening round match here on Wednesday.

Sen, who lost out on a maiden Olympic medal in Paris after defeat in the bronze medal play-off contest, will be up against the winner between seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei and qualifier Arnaud Merkle of France in the next round.

Qualifier Kiran George is the only other Indian in action on Wednesday. He will take on Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei later in the day.

Earlier on Tuesday, rising Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod continued her impressive form this year, pulling off a stunning upset against world No 23 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei to advance to the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old southpaw, who clinched her first title in over two years at the Azerbaijan International in February, showed her resilience in a hard-fought match, winning 21-19, 24-22 in 57 minutes.

However, the challenge will intensify in the next round as the Nagpur shuttler prepares to face a former world champion in Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the second round.

Another promising Indian shuttler Unnati Hooda defeated Brazil’s Juliana Viana Viera 21-16, 23-25, 21-17 to set up an encounter against Michelle Li of Canada.

Rising Aakarshi Kashyap had also progressed to the round of 16 on Tuesday night, beating Germany’s Yvonne Li 21-19, 21-14. She will be next be up against second seed Yue Han of China.