Markham (Canada): Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen progressed to the quarterfinals of the BWF World Junior Championship after defeating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Shiau Cheng in a men’s singles event here.
The 17-year-old from Almora, who had clinched the Asian Junior Championships title in July this year, saw off ninth seed Chen 15-21, 21-17, 21-14 in a match that lasted a little under an hour Thursday. Fourth seeded Lakshya will take on Malaysia’s Aidil Sholeh ALI Sadikin next for a place in the semifinal, which will assure him of a medal in the tournament. Lakshya, who received a bye in the opening round, beat Mexico’s Armando Gaitan and Italian Giovanni Toti in the earlier rounds in straight games.
Men’s doubles pair of Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala and Srikrishna Sai Kumar Podile also entered the quarters with a 21-11, 21-17 win over Indonesian combination of Dwiki Rafian Restu and Bernadus Bagas Kusuma Wardana. The Indian duo will face 10th seeded Korean pair of Tae Yang Shin and Chan Wang next.
Other Indians in fray, Priyanshu Rajawat, Alap Mishra and Kiran George lost in the third round of men’s singles, while Malvika Bansod and Gayatri Gopichand were ousted in the opening and second rounds of the women’s singles competition respectively.
Eighth seed Purva Barve, who received a bye in the first round, lost in the third round. Saina Nehwal remains India’s only gold medallist in the World Junior Championship, having won the title at the 2008 edition at Pune.