Malaysia Masters 2023: Lakshya Sen suffers straight-game loss to Angus Ng Ka Long in pre-quarterfinals
May 25, 2023
Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], May 25 : Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Lakshya Sen on Thursday suffered a defeat against Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka Long in the Round of 16 match of the ongoing Malaysia Masters 2023 in Kuala Lumpur.
Angus Ng Ka Long produced a stunning performance to get the better of India's ace player Sen 21-14, 21-19.
Sen started strongly in the first game but his Hong Kong opponent dominated the Indian player to wrap up the game with ease with a score of 21-14. Sen looked like producing a comeback, but Long managed to hold his nerves and come up trumps.
In the second game, Angus Ng Ka Long carried the momentum forward and wrapped up the match 21-19 in just 48 minutes.
Earlier in the day, World Championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth got the better of World Number 5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in straight games 21-19, 21-19 in the Round of 16 match of Malaysia Masters 2023 to join HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Srikanth will face Indonesia's Christian Adinata in the last-eight clash on Friday. It was a hard-fought match for the Hyderabadi shuttler.
The double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu comfortably got the better of Aya Ohori of Japan 21-16, 21-11 in 40 minutes in pre-quarters and will lock horns with China's Zhang Yi Man to book a spot in the semifinals in the tournament being held in Kuala Lumpur.
Continuing his good run in the BWF World Tour Super 500 event, Prannoy defeated All England champion Li Shi Feng of China with a superb come-from-behind victory 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the Round of 16. He will face Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the last-8 round on Friday.
In men's singles shuttler Lakshya Sen will also be in action later in the day. Indian shuttlers will be competing in Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 to October 8 in singles, doubles and team events.
Sindhu bagged a bronze in the team event in 2014 while she won a silver in women's singles in the 2018 edition.
Overall Sindhu has an impressive record in multi-sporting events as she bagged a gold in Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and won a silver and bronze in Rio Olympics 2016 and Tokyo Olympics respectively.
