World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen advanced to the men's singles semifinals of the All England Championships after his opponent Lu Guang Zu of China withdrew, giving Lakshya a walkover win in Birmingham on Friday. Indian women's doubles pair, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned World Championships silver medallists, Lee Sohee & Shin Seungchan to reach the semifinals as well.
The 20-year-old from Almora, who had secured his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then claimed a runners-up finish at the German Open last week, will face the winner of the match between Malaysia's sixth seed Lee Zii Jia and Japan's second seed Kento Momota in the last four.
Sen had stunned world no 3 and two-time medallist at World Championships Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-16 21-18 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals. The Indian had defeated world no 1 and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark on his way to his maiden Super 300 final last week.
In the women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, ranked 46th in the world, produced a stunning comeback to defeat second-seeded Korean pair, Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan 14-21 22-20 21-15. Having lost the opening set, the Indian pair saved multiple match points in the second set to force a decider, eventually winning a contest that lasted 67 minutes. They face Chinese pair, Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu in the semifinals.
A HUGE upset in the quarter finals!!
The young pair of Jolly & Pullela come from a set down to WIN against the world number 2s 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
Look at that reaction! 💪🏻#YAE22 https://t.co/XhduIeduQz pic.twitter.com/W56ErXTJFK
- 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 18, 2022
In the men's doubles, fifth seeded Indian pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty failed to cross the quarterfinal hurdle losing 22-24 17-21 to Indonesian top seed Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in 47 minutes. The Indian pair led their opponents 20-15 in the first set, but were unable to deal with the flat, fast exchanges of the Indonesians, eventually falling in straight sets.
(with inputs from PTI)