CHENNAI: ‘NEVER give up’. That is one of the prominent tattoos that is inked on shuttler Lakshya Sen’s left arm. It’s the mantra that he has held close to his heart and pulled off numerous memorable wins over the years.
On Thursday, his fighting spirit was visible through and through in his men’s singles contest in the ongoing All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
Playing Anders Antonsen (the No 4 seed) in his second-round match, it was expected to be a stiff test of mental strength for Lakshya, who has been on a revival since the last few weeks or so. In the first game, he showed his quality to keep his nose in front in the early phases. Antonsen, as was expected, stepped up and started to dictate the pace of the game. Trailing 13-17, the Dane reeled off five consecutive points to turn the tide in his favour. It was a see-saw battle towards the end but Lakshya retained his composure to ride out the storm.
The game was far from over, though. Antonsen, who has two titles to his name in 2024, fought back in an emphatic manner. As Antonsen found his rhythm, Lakshya seemed to be exhausted and running out of ideas. It was no surprise when Antonsen closed out the second game in no time.
The momentum was clearly on Antonsen’s side as he raced to a 12-6 lead in the last stanza. That’s when Lakshya’s ‘never give up’ spirit came to the fore. Like a man possessed, he triggered a fightback, forcing Antonsen to make unforced errors. Lakshya never looked back after that as he got over the victory line. After an engaging 80-minute encounter, the score read 24-22, 11-21, 21-14 in the Indian’s favour. Lakshya will meet Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the quarterfinals
Meanwhile, French Open winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 16-21, 15-21 against Maulana Bagas and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia in the men’s doubles Round of 16 clash. The World No 1 pair’s defeat is a massive blow for India. Before Thursday’s development, the Indian pair had reached finals of all the competitions they had taken part this year.
Earlier, PV Sindhu had lost her women’s singles second-round match against World No 1 An Se-Young. Sindhu, on a comeback trail after recovering from a left knee injury, lost 21-19, 21-11. This is a big learning curve for Sindhu, who is India’s only hope in the women’s singles category in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
“She is, of course, the top player now. But I should have been much more patient, I made unforced errors. There were easy mistakes,” she later said.
It was also curtains for the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa. The Indian pair lost 11-21, 21-11, 21-11 against the Chinese duo of Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu.