CHENNAI : Lakshya Sen has been a different beast in the last two weeks or so. Playing his men’s singles semifinal match of the ongoing All England Open Championships in Birmingham on Saturday, that was evident as he stretched Jonatan Christie, his opponent on the day, to the limits. After conceding the opening game, where he looked completely off (primarily due to Christie’s game intelligence), Lakshya switched on his fighting spirit, something that has been key to his success over the years. Smashes, good defences (he even pulled off a defence when the score read 18-6 in Lakshya’s favour that could make the cut in one of his highlight reels on YouTube), you name it all, it was simply mesmerizing.
With Prakash Padukone (the first Indian to win the prestigious All England Open Championships) and U Vimal Kumar by his side, he signalled another comeback story. He had taken a similar route less than twenty four hours ago. But alas, it was not to be. Christie, despite being rattled for the majority of the second game, regained his composure before pulling off a three-game win (12-21, 21-10, 21-15).
Despite the defeat, his run in the last two weeks (he also reached the French Open semis) or so is a massive win for him and the Indian badminton fraternity. Before that, he was staring at uncertainty in regards to Olympic Games qualification. “I’m happy with the way I played in the second game. I hoped for better results in the third,” Lakshya said after the match. While the 22-year-old will have some positives from the run at Birmingham, one thing he wants to focus on is to close out matches in two games.
After a relatively straightforward win in the first round, Sen took the scenic route in his next two wins. It impacted his recovery process, something he openly admitted after the match. It’s something he had done at the French Open too, with each of his four games going the distance. “I will want to close out matches in two games,” he said.
Similarly for Christie, this run to the finals (he’s set to face Indonesian counterpart Anthony Sinisuka Ginting) is a big morale booster. Like Lakshya, Christie had endured a patchy run. Irrespective of the outcome in the finals, this experience could give him a massive kick ahead of the Olympics.
Yamaguchi trumps An
An Se-young has been a dominant force in the women’s singles category. However, she showed that she’s human on Saturday. In fact, at one point of time it looked like the South Korean would limp towards the finish line because of a heavily-strapped knee. It was clearly impacting her immobility but she kept at it as she made Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, her semifinal opponent, work for the points in each of the next two stanzas. The World No 1 lost 21-10, 19-21, 21-14.