Lakshya Sen Loses In Olympic Badminton Semi Final: Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark defeated Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals of the men’s singles badminton tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics in straight sets.
Hopes were high for the Indian badminton contingent going into the 2024 Olympics. While Lakshya and HS Prannoy participated in the men’s singles, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu competed in the women’s singles. The team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the men’s doubles were modal hopefuls as well.
But as Sen entered his semi-final against Axelsen today, he was the last modal hope for the Indian badminton contingent. While Sindhu had been eliminated in the round of 16, Shetty/Reddy had been defeated in the quarterfinal. As for Prannoy, he was defeated by Lakshya himself in an unlucky round of 16 draws.
Lakshya Sen Loses In Olympic Badminton Semi Final
The Danish shuttler came into this game with all he had, building an early lead as the Indian made some early mistakes. But then, Lakshya Sen made a comeback as the two went neck to neck towards the first set break. It was Lakshya who went into the break with an 11-09 lead.
The 22-year-old only increased his lead following the break. From 15-09 to 17-12, and 18-13. With the Indian on the cusp of a set sin, Axelsen came back into the game. He quickly cut down the five-point deficit and equalized at 20-20. With two successive points needed to win, Viktor Axelsen won two and won the set 20-22.
After a disappointing turnaround for Lakshya, he built a solid 7-0 lead in the second set as the defending gold medallist was making a lot of faults. But as soon as the Danish star returned back to his game, the set was square again at 10-10. However, Sen did take an 11-10 lead into the break.
It was at this point that the Olympic champion grabbed hold of the game and started completely outplaying Lakshya Sen. It went from 12-13 to 13-16 to 14-20 in favour of Axelsen as he started dominating the match. He did not waste any match points, winning the set and the match on his first and will be going to the final of the Olympic men’s singles badminton tournament for the second time in a row.
But the quest for a medal is not over for Lakshya, who will not face Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match for India’s only medal in badminton at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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