Lakshya Sen crashes out in quarters Ashwini-Sikki bow out of All England Open

BIRMINGHAM: India's Lakshya Sen crashed out of the All England Open Championships quarter-finals on Friday, losing to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 17-21, 21-16, 17-21. The match, which lasted 55 minutes, saw the end of Indian challenge in men's singles.

Caljouw, who had beaten Sen once before, won the first set 21-17 in 17 minutes. He was leading 11-8 at one point and maintained it to go 1-0 up. The 19-year-old Sen then bounced back in the second game, opening up a lead of 11-6 and later sealing the second game 21-16 to stay alive in the contest.

The world No. 36 Caljouw, however, won the last game 21-17 to seal the clash.

Sen had progressed to the men's singles quarter-finals on Thursday after beating France's Thomas Rouxel 21-18, 21-17 in 53 minutes.

Earlier, Indian women's doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost in the quarter-finals on Friday after a straight-games defeat to the Netherlands' Selena Piek and Cheryl Seinen.

Ashwini and Sikki lost the match 22-24, 12-21 in 39 minutes. This leaves reigning world champion PV Sindhu as the only Indian in the Super 1000 tournament. Sindhu plays Japanese third seed Akane Yamaguchi in her quarter-final match later on Friday.

Ashwini and Sikki had beated sixth seeds Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva of Bulgaria 21-17, 21-10 in the Round of 16. IANS

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