Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles semifinals at the 2024 Paris Games on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medal, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash.
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“I had to be a bit more patient and try out a few things that could have gone the other way. Overall, at that stage, whatever came into my head, I did that. Have a lot of things to learn from this match. I’ll be ready for tomorrow. Now is the time to look at the match and take a few positive things and look at things I can improve on. And then just forget this result. It’s just one match,” Lakshya Sen said after the match.
Sen will have another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff.
Summing up the match, Sen said, “I would take my learnings and positives from this game and give my 100 percent in bronze medal match.
“My parents, brother (Chirag Sen) is there in stands to support me. My mother is cooking lunch and dinner and sending me. I have got lot of support from the crowd and hope they will come tomorrow for the bronze medal match also.”
India have never won a Olympic gold medal in badminton with PV Sindhu claiming a silver and bronze at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and Saina Nehwal securing a bronze in London Games.
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Making his Olympics debut, Sen created history after becoming the first Indian individual male shuttler to reach the last four of the showpiece with a 19-21 21-15 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in an intense quarterfinal match.
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The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, looked in complete control as he notched up a 21-12 21-6 win over world no. 13 HS Prannoy in a 39-minute pre-quarterfinal clash. Sen had joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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