Mannepalli Triumphs, Lakshya Sen, Srikanth out at Arctic open

Indian shuttler Tharun Mannepalli kept the country's men's singles campaign alive at the Arctic Open 2025, staging a dramatic comeback against world No. 14 Toma Junior Popov of France on Wednesday.

Ranked 46th, Mannepalli recovered from a first-game loss to defeat Popov 11-21, 21-11, 22-20 in a one-hour and eight-minute encounter, saving four match points in the decider. He will face world No. 18 Koki Watanabe of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Paris Olympics semifinalist Lakshya Sen suffered his 10th first-round exit of the 2025 season, losing 21-15, 21-17 to world No. 11 and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan. Sen trailed 11-6 at the first-game interval and could not mount a serious challenge, finishing with six defeats in eight career matches against Naraoka. He had reached the final of last month’s Hong Kong Open.

Other Indian shuttlers also faced early departures. Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth conceded a walkover to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, while Kiran George retired during his second game, trailing 1-4 after losing the first game 10-21 to Watanabe.

Sankar Subramanian was defeated 21-17, 21-11 by France’s Christo Popov in 44 minutes, and Ayush Shetty went down 21-15, 21-16 against top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in a 50-minute contest.

The BWF Super 500 tournament witnessed a challenging day for Indian shuttlers, with Mannepalli’s win standing out as the only notable success in men’s singles on Wednesday.