{"id":47745,"date":"2026-04-08T13:08:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=47745"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:18:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:48:40","slug":"lakshya-sen-crashes-out-in-first-round-of-badminton-asia-championships-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/badminton\/lakshya-sen-crashes-out-in-first-round-of-badminton-asia-championships-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Badminton Asia Championships 2026: Lakshya crashes out against Lee Cheuk Yiu in the round of 32"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen suffered a <strong>straight-sets defeat to Hong Kong\u2019s Lee Cheuk Yiu in the Round of 32<\/strong> at the Bank of Ningbo Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in Ningbo, China, on <strong>April 8.<\/strong> The scoreline read <strong>12-21, 19-21<\/strong> in a match that lasted just <strong>41 minutes on Court 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old Sen, ranked inside the world\u2019s top 15 and carrying expectations after a month\u2019s rest following his All England Open campaign, could not find his rhythm against a familiar and dangerous opponent. Lee, who now leads the <strong>head-to-head 4-2<\/strong> (having won the last three meetings), controlled the tempo from the outset with sharp smashes and precise net play. Sen mounted a brief fightback in the second game, closing to within touching distance, but Lee\u2019s consistency proved decisive.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This result extends Sen\u2019s disappointing record at the continental championships he has now exited in the opening round in multiple recent editions. <strong>Coach U Vimal Kumar<\/strong> had highlighted the draw as a golden opportunity: <strong>win here and a blockbuster clash against home favourite Shi Yuqi awaited in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, the first-round \u201cjinx\u201d struck again.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yet, one match does not define a season, and Sen\u2019s trajectory tells a far more encouraging story.<\/p>\n<p>Just last month at the All England Open 2026, Sen produced arguably the performance of his career. He fought through blisters, cramps, and a marathon semi-final to stun World No. 1 Shi Yuqi before reaching the final (where he fell to Lin Chun-yi). That run, combined with his earlier heroics in helping India to Thomas Cup glory and consistent deep finishes on the BWF World Tour, reaffirmed his status as the country\u2019s premier men\u2019s singles hope.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>At 24, Sen remains one of Asia\u2019s most promising talents technically complete, mentally tougher than ever, and still improving. A single early exit in Ningbo changes nothing about his upward curve. Indian badminton has seen enough from him to know that these setbacks fuel greater comebacks.<\/p>\n<p>The focus now shifts to recovery and the next big targets: the Thomas Cup, remaining Super 1000 events, and ultimately the road to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Lakshya Sen has already shown he belongs among the world\u2019s elite. Today\u2019s result is merely a detour, not the destination. The best, as they say, is still ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian badminton star Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-sets defeat to Hong Kong\u2019s Lee Cheuk Yiu in the Round of 32\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":47750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5101,2960,830,4057],"class_list":["post-47745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-badminton","tag-badminton-asia-championship","tag-lakshya-sen","tag-loss","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47745"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47753,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47745\/revisions\/47753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}