All England Open Badminton Championships: Lakshya Sen crashes out after losing his quarter-final match

Indian shuttler and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen bowed out of the All England Open 2025 after a quarter-final defeat in the men's singles event in Birmingham on Friday (March 14).

Ranked 15th in the world, Lakshya Sen lost 21-10, 21-16 to reigning Asian Games champion and world No. 6 Shi Feng Li of China. Sen started strong, leading 4-3 in the opening exchanges, but Shi Feng Li seized momentum with a nine-point streak, taking control of the game. Lakshya could only manage six more points in the first game as Shi Feng Li wrapped it up comfortably.

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Sen made a brief resurgence in the second game, leading 11-8 at the mid-game interval. However, Shi Feng Li shifted gears after the break, securing win in 45 minutes. This was Sen's third loss in seven encounters against the Chinese shuttler. The Indian had previously reached the semi-finals of the tournament in 2024 and finished as the runner-up in 2022.

Treesa-Gayatri duo bow out

In the women's doubles category, the Indian duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a 21-14, 21-10 loss in the quarter-finals against world No. 2 pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China. The Indian pair fought back early to trail by just a point at the mid-game break in the first game, but Liu and Tan dominated thereafter, conceding only four more points to seal the opener. The second game was one-sided, with the Chinese pair controlling proceedings from start to finish, clinching the match in 46 minutes.

Earlier in the tournament, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu crashed out in the first round of the women's singles event on Wednesday. Meanwhile, world No. 28 Malvika Bansod and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy exited the competition on Thursday. Shetty and Rankireddy were forced to retire from their round-of-16 match after Chirag Shetty suffered a back muscle strain.

(With inputs from agencies)