Delhi, 13 November (H.S.): Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen advanced to the men's singles quarterfinals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan on Thursday, defeating Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh in straight games.The 2021 World Championships bronze medallist and the tournament's seventh seed, Lakshya, defeated world number 20 Teh 21-13, 21-11 in a match lasting just 39 minutes.

With this victory, world number 15 Lakshya Sen will now face Singapore's former world champion Loh Kean Yew in the quarterfinals.In the first game, Lakshya took an early 8-5 lead, though Teh briefly pulled ahead at 10-9. However, Lakshya held his advantage into the break and reeled off seven consecutive points from 14-13 to claim the game.

Lakshya was even more dominant in the second game, racing to a 5-0 lead and extending it to 11-3 by the mid-game interval. From there, he maintained complete control to comfortably seal the match.Later in the day, HS Prannoy is scheduled to take on Rasmus Gemke of Denmark.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar