Update, November 12, 2026, 11:18 AM IST: Lakshya Sen is now through to the Japan Masters quarterfinals after beating China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 in Thursday’s round of 16. The official BWF results list the completed match at 35 minutes. This is his second straight-games win of the tournament, following Wednesday’s victory over Chi Yu Jen.
Sportstar reported that Sen won eight consecutive points on his way to taking the opening game in 13 minutes, then pulled away again in the second. The quarterfinal place is confirmed; it does not by itself confirm qualification for the season-ending World Tour Finals.
BWF’s November 12 results; Sportstar’s round-of-16 report. The original report below records his opening-round win.
Lakshya Sen began his Japan Masters campaign with a 21-19, 21-18 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen on Wednesday, booking a place in the last 16 in Kumamoto.
The eighth-seeded Indian needed 49 minutes to complete the straight-games victory, according to the official BWF results. It was a winning return to competition after his Hylo Open title in Germany earlier this month.
First-game recovery sets up the win
Sen did not have everything his own way. He trailed 12-16 in the opening game before recovering to take it 21-19, Sportstar reported. That comeback kept him from having to chase the match from a game down.
The second game was close too, but Sen secured it 21-18 to finish without a decider. The victory moved him ahead 2-1 in his career meetings with Chi, adding another win to a head-to-head record that had been level before Wednesday.
The route after the opening win
Wednesday’s win earned Sen a round-of-16 meeting with China’s Dong Tianyao on Thursday, November 12. He has since won that match to reach the quarterfinals, as detailed above.
The Kumamoto Masters is a BWF Super 500 event at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium, running from November 10 to 15. Sen has now followed his Hylo Open title in Germany with two straight-games wins in Kumamoto.
Archive photo: Lakshya Sen at the boys’ singles medal ceremony at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, October 12, 2018. BugWarp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Existing Commons crop by Esp1986; further cropped and compressed to WebP, adapted image under the same licence. Not a 2026 Japan Masters photograph.
