Indonesia Masters: Kiran George, Lakshya Sen keep Indian flag flying
Jakarta, January 24
Lakshya Sen and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth exited after suffering narrow losses in their respective opening matches at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 here today.
World no. 19 Sen, who is looking to qualify for the Paris Olympics, avenged his Malaysia Open first-round loss to China’s Weng Hong Yang with a 24-22 21-15 win in his opening-round match here.
The 23-year-old George, who had won Super 100 titles at 2022 Odisha Open and 2023 Denmark Masters, bounced back from an opening game reversal to eke out a 18-21 21-16 21-19 win over France’s Toma Junior Popov.
However, world No. 8 Prannoy, who had reached the semifinals at the India Open Super 750 last week, lost to former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 18-21 21-19 10-21.
The 31-year-old Indian had also lost in the first round at the Malaysia Open Super 1000 as well.
For former world No. 1 Srikanth, it was yet another day when he had to return empty-handed despite putting up a brave effort against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, who is ranked 10th.
Srikanth, who is racing against time to qualify for Paris, squandered an opening game advantage to lose 21-19 14-21 11-21 to Lee in a 54-minute clash to bow out of tournament. It was his second successive first-round loss of the season.
