Lakshya Sen won a gold medal in 2022 Commonwealth Games© AFP
Rising star of Indian badminton Lakshya Sen showed great match temperament as he came back from a lost match to win the men’s singles final against Malaysian Tze Yong NG. Lakshya won 19-21, 21-9, 21-16. This was a breakthrough season for the youngster, winning bronze at the World Championships and also finishing second at the prestigious All England Championships.
Lakshya, a silver medalist from the Youth Olympics, had played a big part in India’s historic Thomas Cup victory earlier this year.
Sen trailed for most of the first game but stayed close to the Malaysian who had accounted for world champions Yew Kean Loh and Kidambi Srikanth in his previous two games.
Sen made it 19-18 from 16-19 before Yong produced back-to-back forehand winners to rack up a game point. Sen misjudged a baseline call after a grueling rally to give the advantage to Yong.
The second game was a one-way street after Sen led 11-9 at halftime. The Indian took 12 points in a row after the break to equalize the final. Yong made a slew of casual mistakes and it looked like he wanted to save energy for the third game.
Sen was at his best offensively in the decider and led to the end. Yong tried his best to make a comeback, but Sen was unstoppable. He scored his first match point after a long rally, which led to a frenzied celebration as he threw his racket into the stands.
promoted
“In the beginning it was tense, I had to work very hard. Yong also played a great tournament. Congratulations to him too,” said Sen after a hard fought match.
(with PTI inputs)
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