<p>Champion of the Commonwealth Games Lakshya Sen and former world no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth were eliminated in straight sets by local opponents at the French Open badminton in Rennes. In the process, India’s tournament campaign in the men’s singles category came to an end.<img decoding=”async” class=”alignnone wp-image-253042″ src=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-download-2023-10-26t175202.798-11zon-1.jpg” alt=”theindiaprint.com download 2023 10 26t175202.798 11zon 1″ width=”972″ height=”647″ srcset=”https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-download-2023-10-26t175202.798-11zon-1.jpg 275w, https://www.theindiaprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/theindiaprint.com-download-2023-10-26t175202.798-11zon-1-150×100.jpg 150w” sizes=”(max-width: 972px) 100vw, 972px” title=”Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth both lose in the first round of the French Open badminton 6″><br />
World No. 17 Lakshya Sen was defeated in 54 minutes by 44th-ranked Arnaud Merkle, 15-21, 18-21, on the courts at the Glaz Arena. While Toma Junior Popov, ranked 25th, defeated Kidambi Srikanth, ranked 22 in the world, 17-21, 15-21 in 44 minutes.<br />
Arnaud Merkle jumped off to a four-point lead at 10-6, leaving Lakshya, the winner of the Canada Open BWF Super 500 tournament earlier this year, struggling early. The French easily won the first game after the Indian tied the score at 11 points each. They then quickly regained control with five consecutive points.</p>
<p>In the second game, both players had lengthier rallies. After the scores were knotted at 13, Lakshya quickly took the lead, winning four of the following five points to take a 17–14 advantage. Merkle, however, battled back to tie the game at eighteen all and then won the last three points to advance to the round of sixteen.</p>
<p>Since reaching the Japan Open semifinals in July, Lakshya has participated in six BWF competitions. In five of those competitions, he did not get beyond the first round; the only exception being the BWF World Championships, when he reached the round of 16.</p>
<p>It was Kidambi Srikanth’s sixth first-round loss of the year at the French Open. The Indian hasn’t won a BWF title in 2023, although he did make it to the world championship final in 2021 and helped India win their first Thomas Cup trophy in 2022.</p>
<p>In the women’s division, two-time Olympian PV Sindhu has kept Indian hopes alive. In the round of 16, she will face Supanida Katethong of Thailand, ranked 16th in the world.</p>
<p>The three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia will face off against the Asian Games winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty for a spot in the quarterfinals.</p>
<p>The French Open results will be used to determine the qualifying standings for the Olympic Games in Paris.</p>
<p> </p>