India Open: Lakshya Sen Beats World Champion Loh Kean Yew to Win Men's Singles Crown

Lakshya Sen defeated World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 24-22, 21-17 to secure his maiden Super 500 title in the final of the men’s singles final at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open.

In a repeat of last year’s Dutch Open final, the Indian ensured that he had the last laugh this time around.

Going into this match, the two had a 2-2 head-to-head record with Sen losing two of the last three meetings, but the Indian was the better man on show on Sunday as he showed great athleticism, used his attacking shots to good effect and came up with his punched winners from the back at the right moments.

This was the 20-year-old’s maiden entry in the final of a BWF World Tour Super 500 event after he came back from a game down to beat Malaysia’s Tze Yong Ng 19-21, 21-16, 21-12.

As for World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, he progressed to title clash when his opponent Brian Yang of Canada pulled out complaining of sore throat and headache. Yang had tested negative in the mandatory Covid test but still decided to withdraw from the event.

Yang’s withdrawal came soon after two players, a Russian mixed doubles pair, had to pull out in the morning when one of them tested positive for Covid-19. The player returned a positive result to a mandatory RT-PCR test conducted on Friday.

Earlier, the top doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty scripted a stunning straight-game win over three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia to become the first men’s team from the country to win the India Open. The world no 10 Indian pair, which had won its first Super 500 tournament in Thailand in 2019, upset the top-seeded Indonesian pair 21-16 26-24 in 43 minutes to make a rampaging start to the new season.

In the women’s Singles final, Thailand’s second-seeded Busanan Ongbamrungphan defeated her compatriot Supanida Katethong 22-20, 19-21, 21-13 to clinch the coveted title.

Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand won the women’s doubles champions beating Russia’s Anastasiia Akchurina and Olga Morozova 21-13, 21-5.