BWF World Championships 2023: Lakshya Sen Breezes Past Jeon Hyeok Jin, Advances to Pre-Quarterfinals

India’s second-highest-ranked men’s singles shuttler Lakshya Sen continued his progress at the BWF World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday as he defeated Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin in the round of 32 game to advance into the pre-quarterfinal round.

The Almora-born Indian shuttler needed just 36 minutes as he defeated his Korean counterpart in straight sets 21-11, 21-12.

Sen, the 11th ranked BWF men’s singles player took five consecutive points and won a total of 32 rallies.

The 22-year-old claimed 42 points in his latest win as he outlasted his opponent without must resistance. Sen was the third Indian to take to the court on Tuesday as fellow mixed doubles pair Venkat Gaurav, Juhi Dewangan, as well as women’s doubles duo Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam were both ousted in the round of 64.

Venkat, Juhi lost to Germany’s Lones Jansen and Linda Elfer 21-12, 21-11, whereas Ashwini and Shikha dropped the first game, made a comeback but were ousted by the French duo of Debora Jille, Cheryl Seinen 21-14, 11-21, 21-14.

Sen, bronze medallist at the 2021 edition, prevailed over the world number 51 without breaking a sweat.

The 11th seeded Indian is likely to face third-seeded Kunlavut Vitidsarn from Thailand in the next round.

The Indian, thus, settled his score against the Korean, who had defeated him in their only meeting at the Asia Team Championship in 2022.

Sen was alert and took the initiatives during the rallies, showing his retrieval skills, speed and shot selection to dominate the proceedings.

The Indian lead 5-1 and slowly kept extending the gap against a struggling Jeon, who lacked the finishing punch during the fast-paced rallies.

Sen entered the interval with 11-6 lead and kept things under a firm grip even after resumption to quickly move to 18-11 before sealing the first game with three straight points.

In the second game, Sen opened up a 4-1 lead before extending it to 10-5 with a whipping forehand return. Another straight jump smash helped the Indian make it 11-5 at the break.

Sen continued to construct his points and got behind the shuttle early to produce clean winners to grab eight match points and converted it in his second attempt.

With inputs from PTI