Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen’s campaign at the BWF World Championships ended in disappointment as he lost in straight games to world No. 1 and top seed Shi Yu Qi of China in the men’s singles opening round on Monday. The 24-year-old Sen, a bronze medallist at the 2021 edition, was defeated 17-21, 19-21 in 54 minutes. How Lakshya Sen Lost To Shi Yu Qi? Despite pushing Shi to long rallies and showing bursts of his attacking brilliance, Sen faltered at key moments, unable to breach Shi’s solid defence and explosive finishing. Sen had hoped to erase the memory of his heartbreaking fourth-place finish at the Olympics last August. Instead, he faced the in-form Shi, who has won all nine finals he contested since January 2024 and seemed in complete control of his game. With the win, Shi extended his head-to-head advantage over Sen to 4-1. The match began with both players engaging in gripping exchanges. A 47-shot rally early on ended with Sen misjudging a line call, giving Shi a 3-2 lead. The Chinese then unleashed two sharp smashes to move 10-6 ahead. Sen capitalised on a few errors from his opponent and drew level at 11-11. However, Sen could not maintain the momentum. Shi immediately broke away to 14-11 with a series of smashes, consistently targeting Sen’s backhand corner. An awkward backhand error from Sen and another wide smash from Shi allowed Sen to claw back to 14-16. A 52-shot rally that ended with Shi’s clear sailing wide once again brought Sen within striking distance. Yet, just as Sen threatened to close the gap, Shi struck back with his trademark body smashes. The Chinese gained three game points at 20-17 and sealed the opener when Sen sent a return long. In the second game, Sen started brightly, matching Shi stroke for stroke to stay level at 5-5. But Shi shifted gears, using clever slices and half-smashes to set up opportunities before hammering his whiplash winners. A 414 km/h down-the-line smash epitomised his dominance as he surged to a 14-9 lead. Sen dived desperately on both flanks to stay in the rallies, and his persistence paid off as he narrowed the deficit from 10-15 to 16-17 with a string of smashes and a brilliant crouching block at the net. For a fleeting moment, it looked like Sen might force a decider. But just when he had Shi under pressure, two unforced errors handed the Chinese a 19-16 cushion. Sen fought back to 18-19, snapping two points at the net and winning a controversial point. However, his fight ended tamely with successive errors — one into the net and the other wide — giving Shi a straight-game win. (With inputs from PTI)