All England Championship: Lakshya, Tanisha-Ashwini move into pre-quarters

Birmingham: Lakshya Sen, the bronze medallist at the World Championships, secured a comfortable victory in straight games against Magnus Johannesen of Denmark in the men's singles All England Open Championships here on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old defeated the Dane 21-14 21-15 in 40 minutes in the men’s singles opening round contest.

Lakshya's next challenge in the round of 16 will be against fourth seed Anders Antonsen, another Danish player.

The women's doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa also advanced to the round of 16 with a solid 21-13 21-18 win over Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam from Hong Kong.

Crasto and Ponnappa will face the fifth-seeded Chinese duo of Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu in the pre-quarterfinals.

Unfortunately, Priyanshu Rajawat, another young Indian player, faced defeat in a hard-fought men's singles match against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo. Rajawat lost after a close contest with a scoreline of 19-21, 21-1, 9-21.