In yet another disappointing day for the Indian shuttlers, Priyanshu Rajawat, Lakshya Sen & Kidambi Srikanth lost their respective men’s singles matches at China Masters 2023 on Wednesday. This doesn’t really come as a surprise as the Indian singles shuttlers have been struggling for the entire year, and their weaknesses have become more apparent.
The day started with WR-30 Priyanshu Rajawat losing to Japan’s WR-12 Kenta Nishimoto 21-17, 21-14. Lakshya Sen’s terrible run continued as he lost in the first round as well, falling to China’s Shi Yu Qi 21-19, 21-18. Lastly, Kidambi Srikanth, the former WR-1 lost to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn 15-21, 21-14, 13-21.
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Earlier, HS Prannoy had made it to the second round on Tuesday, after he beat Chou Tien Chen in the first round 21-18, 22-20. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had also progressed in the tournament with a win over B Lane and Vendy S 21-13, 21-10.
Lakshya Sen in 2023
It was only last week that Sen had crashed out of the Japan Masters in the first round too, losing to Kodai Naraoka. Then in the previous tournament, it was a similar story as Lakshya lost in the first round of the French Open to Arnault Merkle. Talking about the Denmark Open, he lost to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round. At the Hong Kong Open, he gave a first-round walkover to his opponent, and at the China Open he lost in the first round to Anders Antonsen.
Kidambi Srikanth in 2023
On the other hand, Srikanth has been ousted in the first round, eight times this year. The best he has done is, reaching the quarters of four tournaments in 2023, let alone winning them. He made it last eight at the Australian Open in August, Indonesia Open in June, Malaysia Masters in May, and Madrid Masters in April.
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