Lakshya Sen. | Photo: PTI/Ravi Choudhary Lakshya Sen. | Photo: PTI/Ravi Choudhary 
Lakshya Sen stormed into the quarter-finals of the 2024 China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament after earning a lop-sided victory over Rasmus Gemke of Denmark on Thursday. (More Badminton News)
The 23-year-old Indian shuttler has reached his first quarter-final since his loss in the bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
Sen took just 46 minutes to overcome Gemke as the Indian defeated his Danish opponent 21-6 21-18 in straight games.
The Indian will now face a tough challenge in the quarter-final as he meets another Danish player Anders Antonsen who has been seeded third for the tournament. Antonsen defeated Japan's Takuma Obayashi 21-15 21-18 in his second round match.
In his second round match against Gemke, Lakshya looked at his best with his brilliant net play and court coverage. The Indian took the lead early on in the match and then never bothered to look back as his Danish opponent found it really hard to match Sen's level.
After a strong showing in the first game, Sen was challenged a bit more in the second game but the Indian made the most of the crucial moments to take the game and the match both.
Apart from Sen, the pair of Satwik-Chirag to advanced to the quarter-finals while other Indian challengers, including two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, lost.
Sindhu lost 16-21 21-17 21-23 to Singapore's Yeo Jia Min. Other women's singles Indian competitors Anupama Upadhyaya and Malvika Bansod also crashed out in the second round. The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand was also shown the exit door.ppgaming