Canada Open Badminton tournament: Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen storm into semi-finals

Canada: India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu and commonwealth games championship Lakshya Sen have advanced into the semi-finals in the Canada Open Badminton tournament.

Two-time Olympic medalist, Sindhu beat China’s Gao Fangjie in straight games, 21-13, 21-7 in their quarter-final match of women’s singles. In the semifinal, the star shuttler will face the first-seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Sindhu has won 14 matches and lost nine against the Japanese.

On the other hand, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya defeated Belgium’s Julie Carraggi in the quarterfinal 21-8, 17-21, 21-10. Lakshya was off to a good start, winning the first game. He stumbled a bit in the second game. However he maintained his composure to win the final game in a one-sided manner and seal his final four position. In the semifinals, the commonwealth games champion will face Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.

Earlier, Sindhu, seeded fourth in the event, did not have to take the court as she got a walkover from Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira in the second round while Lakshya Sen defeated Brazil’s Ygor Coelho in straight games, 21-15, 21-11 in just 31 minutes.

The Canada open Badminton tournament started on July 4 and will end on July 9.