Suncheon: World championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen’s run at the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament ended with a straight-game loss to the lower ranked Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in the second round here Thursday.
The world number nine Indian, went down 20-22 9-21 to the world number 24 Indonesian in 33 minutes.
The country’s other fast-rising shuttler Malvika Bansod also failed to advance to the quarterfinals as she was brushed aside by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 8-21 14-21 in a second round women’s singles clash that lasted 39 minutes.
It was curtains for the mixed doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa as well. The duo fought hard but eventually went down 20-22 21-18 14-21 to the fifth seed Chinese combine of Ou Xuan Yi and Huang Ya Qiong in a gruelling battle that lasted close to an hour.
Sixth seed Sen, who has been in sensational form in the last six months with back-to-back final finishes at German Open and All England Championships, was pipped by Rhustavito in the closely-fought first game.
The 20-year-old Indian then lost steam and struggled in the second to concede the tie meekly.
