Kidambi Srikanth Advances to Quarterfinals at Japan Masters, Lakshya Sen Secures Easy Victory

Kumamoto, November 12 (Daily Kiran) : Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth has successfully reached the quarterfinals of the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, the Japan Masters, held at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. In a thrilling match, Srikanth defeated world number eight and local favorite Kodai Naraoka.

Alongside Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, who recently won the Hylo Open, also advanced to the last eight. He achieved a convincing victory against his Chinese opponent. Despite a poor head-to-head record of 0-4 against Naraoka, Srikanth maintained his composure, winning the first game 21-15. He was trailing 12-14 but rallied to secure seven consecutive points.

The Japanese player made a strong comeback, pushing the match to a decisive game and initially taking the lead. However, Srikanth did not lose his patience, equalizing at 7-7 and then controlling the match to win 21-18 in 60 minutes.

This victory marks another significant achievement for Srikanth this season. In June, he defeated Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, a bronze medalist from the Paris 2024 Olympics, during the US Open, where he finished as the runner-up. Additionally, in September, he reached the quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 750 by overcoming Canada’s then-world number nine, Victor Axelsen.

In the quarterfinals, Srikanth will face another Japanese player, the world number 15 Koki Watanabe. Meanwhile, the eighth-seeded Lakshya Sen continued his strong performance, defeating China’s Dong Tian Yao in just 35 minutes with scores of 21-8, 21-14. He will now compete against Japan’s Yushi Tanaka for a spot in the semifinals.

Unfortunately, India’s doubles challenge ended on Thursday. The men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amasakarnan and M.R. Arjun, along with the women’s doubles duo of Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, lost their respective Round of 16 matches. Amasakarnan and Arjun fell to Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in 34 minutes with scores of 21-14, 21-14. Meanwhile, the world championship bronze medalists Jolly and Gopichand were defeated by Japan’s third-seeded pair, Rin Iwanaga and Ki Nakanishi, also with scores of 21-14, 21-14.