A day after leading the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to their seventh Inter-State Inter-Zonal title, Lakshya Sen carried his impeccable form to make a winning start at the Yonex Sunrise 83rd Senior National Badminton Championships 2018-19 in Guwahati on Tuesday.
The Asian junior champion, seeded 14th at India's biggest domestic badminton event, needed 28 minutes to dismiss Rahul Patel 21-13, 21-13 on his way to the third round.
Sen, who will face Vipul Saini next, had reached the semi-finals in the previous edition and is looking to improve on that
Former two-time champion Sourabh Verma of PSPB also began his campaign on a positive note with a commanding 21-10, 21-8 demolition of Jayapragasham VS.
The first day of the Nationals witnessed as many as 250 matches played on 9 different courts. The hosts had a lot to cheer about on Day 1 as five singles shuttlers from the state of Assam won their opening round matches.
Iman Sonowal set up a clash with Sourabh Verma after outplaying J&K's Raghav Dogra 21-9, 21-3.
Among other matches, 2018 Ghana International winner Harsheel Dani won a blockbuster battle between two of India's rising stars when he prevailed over former World Junior Championships silver medalist Siril Verma 23-21, 21-17 to reach the third round.
