Lakshya Sen advances in Japan Masters

India’s Lakshya Sen stormed into the second round of the men’s singles event at the Kumamoto Masters Japan badminton tournament after registering a straight game win over Koki Watanabe here on Wednesday.

Sen, seeded seventh here, took just 39 minutes to breeze past his world no.26 Japanese opponent 21-12 21-16.

The world no.15 Sen will next be up against the winner of the match between Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh and Victor Lai of Canada.

However, it was the end of the road for another Indian Kiran George after he lost 20-22 10-21 to Malaysia’s Jing Hong Kok.

The mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also made a first round exit but not without putting up a brave fight. The Indians lost 12-21 21-19 20-22 to the American combination of Presley Smith and Jennie Gai.

Later in the day, HS Prannoy will be up against Malaysia’s Jun Hao Leong, Ayush Shetty will face fourth seed Kodai Naraoka, while Tharun Mannepalli will take on Korea’s Hyeok Jin Jeon.