All England Open 2026: Lakshya Sen goes down against Lin in final

Birmingham [UK], March 8 (ANI): Lakshya Sen will return with a silver medal from the All England Open 2026 after the 24-year-old went down in the men's singles final 21-15, 22-20 against Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-Yi here on Sunday.

Sen, who had spent more than five hours on the court in the run-up to the final, fought hard through the 57-minute encounter against the lightning-fast Lin but ended on the wrong side of the scoreline for the second time in the All England final, according to a press release.

Lin, who had won the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 500 title earlier this year, became the first men's singles player from Chinese Taipei to clinch the title in the prestigious tournament.

In the final, Sen took time to get off the blocks. But once he found his rhythm, he began to push Lin into longer rallies.

Sen, who had also reached the 2022 final, struggled to find the depth in his lifts and tosses, and Lin pounced on them to find the cross-court winners and bag the opening game.

Facing a must-win situation in the second game, Sen raised the tempo of the rallies and induced mistakes from Lin. He won six straight points from 3-4 to make it 9-4 before the eventual champion started crawling back into the game. The Chinese Taipei shuttler engaged the tiring Sen in long rallies and started to take control.

With Lin earning a match point at 20-19, Sen threw everything at Lin to save the first match point, but it was not to be for the Indian as his opponent wrapped the title on the second match point.

Earlier in the match, Sen became only the second Indian player to reach two All England finals when he overcame Canada's Victor Lai in a gruelling semifinal here on Saturday. The 24-year-old, who had also reached the summit clash in 2022, not only overcame a spirited Lai but also blisters in his right toe to win 21-16, 18-21, 21-15 in an hour and 37 minutes.

Sen's mentor, Prakash Padukone, had reached the All England final in 1980 and 1981 and won the title in his first appearance in the summit clash. (ANI)

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