Lakshya goes down fighting, Prannoy wins at China Open

India got off on a mixed note in their campaign in the China Open badminton tournament as two of its top male players had contrasting fortunes as the 19th event on the 2025 BWF calendar got off to a rollicking start in Changzhou on Tuesday.

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Prannoy staged a remarkable comeback to save five match points and defeated World No. 18 Koki Watanabe of Japan 8-21, 21-16, 23-21 in the opening round, recovering from 2-11 down in the decider to pull off the comeback for the ages to wrap up a memorable win.

However, lady luck was not smiling on Lakshya as he went down to China’s 2022 Asian Games gold medallist Li Shifeng in three games, failing to press home the advantage after winning the first game. Despite winning the first game 21-14 and with a match point at 22-21, Lakshya went down to the fifth-seeded Li 21-14, 22-24, 11-21 in an intense battle that lasted over 67 minutes.