Young Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen suffered an inexplicable meltdown and missed out on an Olympic medal, going down in three games to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze play-off at the Paris Games on Monday.
Sen loses to Malaysia Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the Badminton bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics.
A fired-up Sen was unstoppable in the beginning but a nine-point streak from Lee in the second game changed the complexion of the match as the world number 7 Malaysian registered a 13-21 21-16 21-11 win in a 71-minute clash to secure the bronze.
Sen, World Number 18, kick-started the match by winning the first set by 21-13.
"I had my chances in the second set and could have done better. But credit to him, he played a really good game. I think at the moment I'm just not able to think right now," a crestfallen Sen said after the match.
"I came well prepared for this match as well. It has been quite a tough week overall. But yeah, the fatigue kept on building. But I mean, I was ready to give my 100 percent in this match."
Zii fought back in this hard battle and went on to win two sets straight by 16-21, 11-21. Sen, who needed medical attention multiple times for an injured right arm, looked indomitable in the first 30 minutes but once Lee gathered himself from a position where he was down by a game and trailing 3-8 in the second, the Indian did not seem to have a plan 'B'.
The match began with a long rally but Sen hit top gear early. The Indian largely played on the backhand side of his rival, logging easy points as there was no fight at all.
The calculated drop shots set up easy points for Sen as he drew his rival on the forecourt. Even the Malaysian tried to play on the backhand of Sen but India was hardly perturbed, leading 11-6 at the break.
There was no sting or intent in Lee's shots as he just played very defensively and was catching up to erase the deficit which was increasing with each shot.
The only smart play by the Malaysian was when he jumped for an overhead smash but dropped the shuttle forward, catching Sen wrong-footed and then coming up with a winner in open court.
Sen closed the first game when he hit a lightning-fast backhand and Lee's return sailed over the baseline.
The second game also started on a similar note as, in no time, Sen zoomed to an 8-3 lead after peppering Lee on his backhand.
Sen seemed to be pulling away but then there was a twist in the tale when he lost nine straight points allowing the Malaysian to fight back into the contest.
There were returns, body smash, and most importantly an intent from Lee who began moving the Indian on both sides of the court.
From 3-8, the Malaysian made it 12-8 and ran away with the game, forcing a decider.
Lee made a powerful start to the game with ferocious smashes and continued with the strategy to run away with the game and match as Sen's attack completely fell apart.
Even when Sen was in an advantageous position to kill the point, like at 2-7, he could not with Lee making incredible recovery and movement with his reflexes and powerful shots.
With a commanding 9-4 lead and momentum on his side, Lee kept going hard at Sen, who was struggling to return the smashing returns. It ended in the same fashion, as Lee sent a body smash which the Indian could not return.
Sen needed to replace his bandage, which was covered by an injury, thrice during the match, leading to multiple stoppages in play.
The Indian said it affected his momentum.
"In between the points the blood was on the floor so they had to wipe it. Sometimes, I was losing the momentum of just having a break in the game and then coming again and trying to refocus on the match. But overall the hand is okay," he said.
Sen’s loss ousted the Indian Badminton team completely from the Paris Olympics.
His loss means that it would be the first time in 12 years that India will return without a badminton medal from the Olympics.
Only Saina Nehwal (2012) and PV Sindhu (2016, 2021) have won Olympic medals for India on the biggest sporting stage with the latter's silver in Rio being the best performance.
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