Picture Credit: Twitter
The women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Cresto and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the round of 16 of the Hong Kong Open 2023 women’s doubles, while prodigy Lakshya Sen withdrew from the tournament in the first round itself.
Crasto-Ponnappa progressed with straight games win 21-19, 21-19 over superior ranked opponents in Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun. Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly also advanced to the round of 16 as they beat Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen 21-15, 16-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted for 54 minutes.
Lakshya Sen, the top ranked Indian in the ongoing tournament, was due to face Chinese Taipei's qualifier, Su Li Yang, in the first match on Court 2 at the Hong Kong Coliseum but pulled out of the tournament just two hours ahead of the match. The reason for his withdrawal is unknown, but Sen is set to travel to Hangzhou, China, for the upcoming Asian Games 2023.
The other Indian in the men's singles, Priyanshu Rajawat, bowed out in the first round after going down to Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-13, 21-14. In the women’s singles, Akarshi Kashyap also failed to advance, losing to Yvonne Li 21-18, 21-10. Malvika Bansod also crashed out following a straight games loss to Zhang Yi Man of China by a scoreline of 14-21, 12-21. Five additional qualifiers, including Kiran George, the most recent Indonesia Masters Super 100 champion, lost in their respective matches and were unable to advance to the main draw, putting an end to India's challenge in the men's and women's singles categories.
