Odense [Denmark], October 13 (ANI): India's PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen suffered first-round exits at the Denmark Open 2026 badminton tournament on Tuesday, while Tanvi Sharma and former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round of the BWF Super 750 event.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu went down 13-21, 25-23, 21-19 against Germany's Yvonne Li, ranked 50th in the world, at the SJF Bank Arena. The defeat was Sindhu's first in four meetings against Li, reported Olympics.com.
Sindhu started strongly, dominating the opening game, but Li fought back to take the second despite the Indian saving five game points. In the deciding game, Sindhu appeared to be in control after establishing leads of 12-7 and 19-15. However, Li produced a decisive six-point winning streak to seal the contest.
Li will next face India's Tanvi Sharma, who advanced after overcoming Japan's Natsuki Nidaira 21-17, 16-21, 21-19 in a hard-fought three-game encounter.
Lakshya Sen also bowed out in the opening round, losing 21-18, 13-21, 21-15 to world No. 3 and sixth seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei.
The defeat marked Sen's fifth first-round exit in his last six tournaments on the BWF World Tour. It was also his fifth loss in 10 career meetings against Chou.
Sen was locked in a close battle in the opening game and led 18-15 before Chou rallied to win six consecutive points and take the game. The Indian responded strongly in the second, building an 11-6 advantage before closing it out comfortably to force a decider.
Chou, however, took control in the final game and maintained his advantage to complete the victory.
There was better news for India in men's singles as Srikanth, the 2017 Denmark Open champion, defeated France's Arnaud Merklé 22-20, 21-19 to enter the second round.
India's doubles campaign will begin on Wednesday, with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty competing in the men's doubles and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand featuring in the women's doubles. (ANI)
Denmark Open: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen suffer first-round exits; Srikanth, Tanvi advance
