Tough Luck for World number 18, Lakshya Sen in today’s match against Danish shuttler Viktor Axlesen, as he lost his semifinal match by 20-22 and 14-21.
India's dream of a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton will remain unfulfilled after Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning champion Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles semifinals at the Paris Games, on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a world championships bronze medallist, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 and 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash.
Sen will get another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff at 6 PM.
Lakshya had a lead in both games, however, the match witnessed a hard fight from Axlesen, ultimately having him win the semi-finals.
It was Sen's eighth loss to the Danish star with the Indian beating him only once at the 2022 German Open final.
Sen told the broadcaster after the contest, "If I would have closed the first game, then I would have had a better chance of closing the match. In the second game also, I started well but couldn't keep the lead."
About losing the first game after being 20-17 ahead, Sen said "As the game went on, he started attacking more and I became passive, only defending. I should have taken chances and attacked more."
Axelsen thus made it to his second successive final at the Olympics and is now one step away from joining Chinese legend Lin Dan as a two-time gold medallist.
Of all his previous losses, this will hurt Sen the most as he had the chance to deal the first blow on his fancied opponent, but instead, he wilted under pressure against the towering Dane, who always found a way to wriggle out of tricky situations.
Sen struggled with the length, spraying wide and long to concede a 2-5 lead early on.
He drew parity with a cross-court shot and then tried to construct the rallies. His trademark cross-court smashes deep into his opponent's forehand helped him to lead 8-7 at one stage.
The Indian kept the pressure on Axelsen and another fine cross-court and an on-the-line return gave him a two-point advantage.
Sen's patient play worked as Axelsen made a series of unforced errors to concede a 9-15 lead.
Axelsen won two good rallies, including one involving 43 shots. Soon, Sen moved to 17-11, but Axelsen then started dominating proceedings and rained down a monstrous forehand to narrow the lead down to 16-18.
Sen left his opponent wrong-footed with an away shot and then produced another incredible cross-court to gather three game points.
But the youngster imploded next as he lost all three of them after serving into the net and going long twice.
Sen recovered quickly from the opening game reversal to zoom to a 7-0 lead after the change of sides but he flattered to deceive, as Axelsen scripted a stunning fightback.
At 10-7, Sen lost his racquet while defending a smash from Axelsen, who was back on level terms with another thundering smash. The Indian, however, managed a one-point advantage at the break, when the Dane erred.
Sen tried to up his game but Axelsen was alert and looked in good flow as he moved to 15-12 with his opponent missing the lines too often.
Axelsen looked in complete control as he rained down those forehand smashes at will to move to 19-14. A flat exchange ended at the net from Sen and it was six match points for the Dane, who sealed it when the Indian went wide again.
Summing up the match, Sen said, "I would take my learnings and positives from this game and give my 100 percent in the bronze medal match.
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