Lakshya enters quarters, erratic Sindhu loses in All England C'ships

Lakshya Sen stuns world no. 3 Anders Antonsen, PV Sindhu falters in All England Championships second round.

India's Lakshya Sen recorded a stunning three-game win over world no. 3 Anders Antonsen to progress to the quarterfinals but an error-prone PV Sindhu lost in the women's singles second round of the All England Championships here on Thursday.

The World No. 18 Sen, who had finished runner-up at the 2022 edition, fought his way back from a 2-8 deficit in the decider after losing the second game to prevail 24-22 11-21 21-14 over Antonsen, a three-time medallist at the World championships, in a controversial second round match.

Earlier Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, seemed to be in good touch as she fought hard against the world No. 1 An Se Young of Korea but failed to curb her mistakes to slip to a 19-21, 11-21 loss.

It was the Indian's seventh successive loss to the indomitable An Se Young, who had become the first Korean woman singles player to win the World Championships last year.

Sen came into the match with a 1-3 record against Antonsen, who had defeated the Indian in all the last three meetings.

But the Indian produced a good show and was leading 17-15 in the first game after some close battles initially. With two winners, Antonsen made it 17-17 but Sen was the first to gain two game points with a precise backhand flick at the corner.

The Indian squandered five game points as Antonsen stayed alive.