All England Badminton Championships: Lakshya Sen holds nerve to beat defending champion, enters final

Birmingham, March 19

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen showed nerves of steel as he stunned defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia to book a maiden final berth in the All England Badminton Championships here today.

Sen became India’s fourth men’s singles player after Prakash Nath, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand to reach the final of the prestigious tournament. The 20-year-old battled past sixth seed Lee 21-13 12-21 21-19 in a gruelling semifinal match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes.

While Padukone (1980) and Gopichand (2001) are the only two Indians to have won the prestigious event, Nath (1947) and women’s singles player Saina Nehwal (2015) had lost in the final.

Sen has been in sensational form in the last six months. He secured his maiden World Championships bronze in December, before winning his first Super 500 title at the India Open in January and finishing runner-up at the German Open last week.

Sen, who had defeated Lee the last time they faced in an international tournament six years ago at the India International Series, showed great tactical acumen, athleticism and mental fortitude as he recovered from a mid-game slump to script history at the prestigious tournament.

In the opening game, Sen showed great defensive skills and moved well in the court. He stayed in the long rallies and waited for his opponent to wilt. Sen stayed composed and his tactical play earned dividends as Lee fell into a heap of unforced errors. The Indian took a 17-12 lead before winning the game.

After the change of sides, Lee stepped up his pace and quickly took a 9-2 lead. He mixed his shots well and also showed great reflexes to outshine a fighting Sen.

The Malaysian was on fire after the breather as he unleashed a series of winners to zoom to 16-5 and eventually roared back into the contest after winning another exciting rally. The duo continued to play at a frantic pace in the decider. Lee seemed a step ahead in his pace and won a 67-shot rally with Sen struggling at the back of his court. From 10-14, Sen narrowed it down to 16-17. He raced away to grab two match points. Lee saved one before the Indian sealed it.

The Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will take on the Chinese pair of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu in the semifinals. The unseeded pair had made history on Friday by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the semifinals of the tournament. 

I was focussing on one point at a time: Sen

After his stunning win, Lakshya Sen said that he tried to blank out thoughts in his mind and focus on one point at a time:

How are you feeling after beating the defending champion?

Towards the end, I was just playing just one point at a time and not playing the things that were going around. Not trying to think that this was a semifinal. The thought was still coming in but I was just trying to play one point at a time. I am happy that I won the match and that I get to play tomorrow. I will take this time to recover for the final.

Talk us through the match…

First game I got a good length and I was playing well from the net. The lifts were working. But when the second game started, I made a lot of errors at the net. He got a lead in the beginning and it was really hard to cover that up. But going into the third game, I tried to play safe at the net rather than going too close. I was trying not to give easy points.

It was a physical battle. Were you expecting that?

Yes, definitely. When you play a player like him, you expect that. Against any top-10 player, against any top-30 player, you prepare to go all out. I was expecting this. I was really prepared to play and the rest that I got yesterday helped.

Did you enjoy the atmosphere?

Lovely to play with that crowd. Still have to go one more match. I think the crowd was lovely and great to play in front of. — Agencies

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