Espoo (Finland), October 9(HS):

India’s rising shuttler Tharun Mannepalli produced a remarkable performance at the Arctic Open 2025, upsetting world No. 14 Toma Junior Popov to keep the country’s hopes alive in the men’s singles category. Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen endured another early exit, continuing his patchy run on the international circuit.

World No. 46 Mannepalli showed immense grit and composure as he rallied from a game down to defeat Popov 11-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a thrilling one-hour-eight-minute encounter. The 22-year-old saved four match points in the decider before sealing a memorable victory that marked one of the biggest wins of his career. He will next face Japan’s world No. 18 Koki Watanabe in the pre-quarterfinals.

In contrast, Lakshya Sen’s struggles deepened with a straight-games loss to Japan’s fifth seed Kodai Naraoka, going down 15-21, 17-21 in 57 minutes. The Paris Olympic semifinalist trailed from the outset, unable to recover after falling behind 6-11 at the first interval.

Although Sen mounted a brief fightback in the second game, Naraoka’s pace and precision proved too strong. This defeat marked Sen’s sixth loss in eight meetings against the Japanese star and his tenth first-round exit of the 2025 season, despite reaching the Hong Kong Open final last month.It was otherwise a disappointing day for other Indian contenders.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth conceded a walkover to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, while Kiran George retired midway due to injury after losing the opening game 10-21 to Watanabe. Shankar Subramaniam fell to France’s Christo Popov 17-21, 11-21, and Ayush Shetty bowed out against top-seeded Thai player Kunlavut Vitidsarn 15-21, 16-21.Despite the setbacks, Mannepalli’s spirited triumph has offered Indian fans a glimmer of hope in the Finnish leg of the BWF World Tour.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar