Japan Masters 2025: Valiant Lakshya Sen goes down to Kenta Nishimoto in semifinals
Lakshya Sen went down in three games to local favourite Kenta Nishimoto in the semifinals of the Japan Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 500 event, in Kumamoto City on Saturday.
Commonwealth Games champion Sen, seeded seventh, lost 19-21, 21-14, 12-21 to World No. 13 Nishimoto in a last-four clash which lasted an hour and 17 minutes.
Coming into the contest, Sen had a 3-2 head-to-head advantage over Nishimoto. The Indian, ranked 15th in the world, raised hopes of extending it when he convincingly clinched the second game.
However, the sixth-seeded Japanese dominated the decider and booked his spot in the summit clash where he’ll face either compatriot Kodai Naraoka or Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei.
More to follow…
Published on Nov 15, 2025