India’s top men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy crashed out of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament after losing their Round of 32 match to Indonesians Rahmat Hidayat and Muhammad Rian Ardianto on Wednesday. The Indian duo lost 18-21, 20-22 in a tight encounter.
However, rising star Unnati Hooda kept India’s hopes alive by advancing to the pre-quarterfinals. The 18-year-old produced a remarkable comeback in the women’s singles first-round match to defeat Malaysia’s Letshanaa Karupathevan 11-21, 21-13, 21-16 after being eliminated in the opening match.
In the men’s singles, Ayush Shetty bowed out in the first round, losing 19-21, 19-21 to Japan’s veteran Koki Watanabe. In the women’s singles, Anupama Upadhyay defeated China’s Han Yue 15-21, 11-21, while Anmol Kharb lost 15-21, 9-21 to South Korea’s An Se-young in the round of 16.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lakshya Sen also left the tournamentsuffered a straight match defeat to Ir Nhat Nguyen in the men’s singles opening round. The 24-year-old native of Almora, who reached the final of the Hong Kong Open, struggled from the start and went 7-21, 16-21 to rank 29th in the world.
Despite beating Nhata in the opener in three games at the Denmark Open last week, Lakshya looked out of sorts in Paris, often hitting wide or into the net while failing to find a rhythm against his opponent’s steep smashes. His deep throws often missed the line and his offensive game lacked precision as he went 2-7 early in the opener.
Although he did much of the hard work in the rally, Lakshya faltered on the closing shots, falling behind by six points in between and never recovering as Nhat raced to a 19-7 lead to seal the opener with a crisp cross-court winner.
The second game offered little relief for World No. 16 Indus, who quickly fell behind 1-6. He narrowed the gap to 4-6, but a series of unforced errors allowed Nhat to restore an 11-5 advantage at the break. Lakshya opened a brief fightback at 11:15 but mistakes at key points again hurt his chances. At 14:17, a long exchange ended with a backhand into the net, and two more errors gave Nhat six match points. Lakshya saved two before the Irish shuttler sealed the match with a deceptive shot across the pitch.
– The end
Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
October 22, 2025
