NEW DELHI: BRUISED. Hurt. Humbled.
Lakshya Sen was left with plenty of soul-searching to do after his match on Wednesday. Following a mighty scare barely 24 hours earlier, the home fans, who had turned up in large numbers here at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, would have expected the local star to come up with an improved show.
What transpired instead was one of the biggest upsets in recent memory.
USA's Garret Tan — a player ranked World No 92, a player with almost no high-level experience — played like his life depended on the match.
At the end of an absorbing men's singles contest that had the crowd experiencing different emotions, Lakshya, clearly spent, was flat on the ground while Garret, just 18, fell to his knees to celebrate the biggest scalp of his young career. This also means that he might have to cancel his return flight to his home country (scheduled for Friday).
After going behind, Garret played with plenty of purpose to fight back. Mixing his strokes -- drop shots, long shots, smashes and half-smashes — prudently, he constantly set up winners to go level. In the third game, he attacked Lakshya's back right corner and found joy on numerous occasions. Even a slight head bump — his coaches later revealed that he felt dizziness momentarily — towards the closing stages of the tie was unable to ward off his concentration levels as he won 19-21, 21-19, 21-17.
"Overall, it was a hard-fought match. Lot of dives and I scratched my legs. I gave it my all. Towards the end of the third game, I was also physically exhausted... I would give a lot of credit to him. He played a very solid game. Also, I am a little bit disappointed with myself," Lakshya said.
"He was just a better player on the day. I'll give a lot of credit to him."
It's certainly a defeat that's going to sting for a while but Lakshya hopes to come back stronger.
"It's a big tournament and it's (defeat) going to hurt a bit more but we have a lot of big tournaments coming up. So I just focus on that."
Once the dust settles, Lakshya's ardent followers might also be stunned to learn that Garret, who trains in Taiwan apart from his home country, had taken part in the world junior meet in Guwahati. India's junior player Gana Dattu had beaten him in the Round of 16 and barely anybody had taken notice of him.
Garret's coach Paula Lynn, who was behind him during the match, was over the moon.
"I'm very proud. He's full of positivity. One of our game plans was just for him to be patient and do his best. Also, he had nothing to lose," a visibly delighted Paula Lynn Cao Hok said.
Garret's senior Lauren Lam, who was knocked out on Tuesday, was also full of praise for the teenager. "He's super hardworking. He is highly dedicated. He actually inspires me. He's like my little brother."
PV Sindhu and Ayush Shetty, meanwhile, sailed into the Round of 16 with straightforward wins. Sindhu will now face Wang Zhi Yi of China (the No 3 seed) in the Round of 16 while Ayush will go on to face Alwi Farhan of Indonesia. But Unnati Hooda (women's singles), and the pair of MR Arjun-Hariharan Amsakarunan (men's doubles) crashed out.
SatChi get walkover
The home fans here will have to wait to watch doubles specialists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty make their first appearance in the coveted meet as they were handed a walkover by their opponents from Scotland -- Akexander Dunn and Adam Pringle.
Dunn sustained an injury in his ankle while playing his mixed doubles match in the morning session on Wednesday.
