kuala lumpur, 6 January. India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen made an excellent start to the new season despite going through some adverse conditions as he defeated Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh in a tough three-game battle to reach the second round of the Petronas Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Tuesday.

Apart from Sen, 20-year-old young shuttler Ayush Shetty from Karnataka also started the new season in the BWF Tour with a win in the first event. But in women’s singles, Malvika Bansod had to face defeat in the first round.

Lakshya’s tough win over Singapore’s Jia Heng

24-year-old Sen, who won the Australian Open title at the end of last season, defeated world number 21 Teoh 21-16 15-21 21-14 in 70 minutes in the fourth match of the day played on court number three of Axiata Arena. World Championship 2021 bronze medalist and current world No. 13 Sen will next face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, who stunned sixth seed Frenchman Christo Popov with a 13-21, 21-19, 23-21 win.

Shetty defeated Malaysian Li Ji Jia in 39 minutes

On the other hand, world number 32 Shetty, who came to play the eighth match on court number one, defeated Malaysian Li Ji Jia 21-12, 21-17 in 39 minutes. Shetty will now face a tough challenge from top seeded Chinese star Xi Yu Qi. Xiu defeated Dennis competitor Rasmus Gemke 23-21, 21-15.

However, Malvika Bansod, who returned after a gap of six months due to a left knee injury, suffered a 11-21 11-21 defeat in 35 minutes at the hands of seventh seed and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the first round of women’s singles.

Sindhu and Satwiksairaj-Chirag will start the campaign on Wednesday

Meanwhile, former world champion PV Sindhu will start her campaign in women’s singles on Wednesday, while in men’s doubles, the pair of 2024 runners-up and world number three Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also be the center of attraction. Many other young Indian shuttlers will also be seen trying their best.