China’s Shenzhen, November 20 On Wednesday, P.V. Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and Malvika Bansod, three of India’s top badminton players, advanced to the second round of the China Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 750 competition.

In a repeat of their bronze-medal match from the Paris Olympics, Lakshya Sen defeated Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the men’s singles, recording a noteworthy win. The Indians prevailed this time, winning 21-14, 13-21, and 21-13 in 57 minutes. The victory put a stop to Lakshya’s four-tournament losing record since the Paris Games and prepared him for a challenging round-of-16 game against either Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto or Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.

Malvika Bansod also made an impression after overcoming Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt in a taxing one-hour, fourteen-minute thriller. In a fiercely contested encounter, the Indian shuttler prevailed 20-22, 23-21, 21-16, showing incredible perseverance and will. In the next round, she will play Supanida Katethong of Thailand.

In a 50-minute match, two-time Olympic medalist P.V. Sindhu demonstrated her supremacy by beating Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-17, 21-19. This further solidified Sindhu’s dominance in head-to-head matches, as she defeated the world No. 11 for the twentieth time in 21 meetings. Now, Sindhu prepares for a difficult matchup in the round of 16 against Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.

India’s women’s doubles team, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, and men’s doubles team, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, will also compete later in the day.