Lakshya Sen won a gold medal in Commonwealth Games 2022© AFP
Rising star of Indian badminton Lakshya Sen showed big match temperament as he came back from a game down to win the men’s singles final against Malaysia’s Tze Yong NG. Lakshya won 19-21, 21-9, 21-16. This has been a break out season for the youngster, which has seen him win a bronze at the World Championships and also finish as runners-up at the prestigious All England Championships.
A Youth Olympic Games silver medallist, Lakshya had played a big role in India’s historic Thomas Cup victory earlier this year.
Sen trailed for majority of the first game but stayed close to the Malaysian who had accounted for world champion Yew Kean Loh and Kidambi Srikanth in his previous two matches.
Sen made it 19-18 from 16-19 before Yong produced back-to-back forehand winners to gain a game point. Sen misjudged a baseline call after a gruelling rally to hand the advantage to Yong.
The second game was one way traffic after Sen led 11-9 at the interval. The Indian took 12 points in a row post the break to level the final. Yong made a slew of unforced errors and it seemed he wanted to preserve energy for the third game.
Sen was at his attacking best in the decider and led until the end. Yong tried his best to mount a comeback but Sen was unstoppable. He converted his first match point following a long rally, leading to a frenzied celebration that saw him throw his racket into the stands.
Promoted
“It was tense in the start, I had to work really hard. Yong also played a great tournament. Congratulations to him as well,” said Sen after a hard fought contest.
(With PTI inputs)
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