While fellow countryman HS Prannoy lost in the first round of the men’s singles tournament here, Lakshya Sen of India battled his way back to get to the second round of the All England Championships on Tuesday.

In the first round of the Super 1000 tournament, Lakshya, who is now ranked 15th in the world, overcame a deficit to overcome SU Li Yang, the 37th-ranked player in the world from China, 13-21, 21-17, 21-15. Next up for the 23-year-old from Almora is Jonatan Christie, the third seed from Indonesia. Christie had lost to Lakshya on his way to finishing fourth in the Olympics in Paris the previous year.

Prannoy, who won bronze at the 2023 Asian and World Championships, had a difficult time against Toma Junior Popov of France, who is rated 17th. After 53 minutes of fighting, Prannoy lost 19–21, 16–21.

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath lost 6-21, 15-21 in 51 minutes against Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui, the world No. 7 duo from China, in the mixed doubles.

Lakshya and Yang fought hard till 17-17 in the second game after losing the first one. The Indian took advantage of three mistakes made by Yang at the net to score four points in a row and forcefully regain the lead.

Although Yang pulled even at 15-15 in the final, Lakshya led 11-9 at the half and won the last six points with a body blow, two good returns, and a couple more errors from Yang.

The 29th-ranked 32-year-old Prannoy had his opportunities in the first game earlier in the day, leading 6-1 and 15-12, but he was unable to withstand Popov’s constant pressure, which caused him to flip the score around from 16-18 to 19-18 before winning.

Following the switch of ends, Popov’s confidence increased, going from 5-3 to 13-9. Prannoy rallied to tie the score at 13–13, but Popov overtook him as the Indian fell apart.

On Wednesday, former world no. 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, and two-time Olympic winner PV Sindhu will begin their campaigns.