In an all Indian round, Lakshya Sen beats comptraiot HS Prannoy by 21-12 and 21-6 in RO-16 to reach quarter-finals at La Chapelle Arena, on Thursday.
Lakshya had the lead in four games straight-to-straight and then entered RO-16 to face World No.13 Prannoy. Sen, dominated the game throughout the sets, with 11-6 in the first half of first set and 9-3 in second set.
Sen then brought some cheers back to the Indian camp after registering a comfortable 21-12 and 21-6 win over a tired-looking HS Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinals contest to become only the third male player ever from the country to reach the round of 8 of the Olympics badminton competition.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals.
"I think having tough matches gives you confidence. I am now ready to go deep into the tournament. It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 per cent," Sen said after the match.
Sen trumps Prannoy
Sen was steady in his defense and mixed his attack well, while Prannoy, who played a three-game match last evening, looked tired and didn't show much resistance during the 39-minute contest.
It was the end of campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to a good start, leading 7-4. He kept things under control as Prannoy seemed to struggle, played too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act.
Sen closed out the opening game comfortably.
The second game was a blur as Sen looked rock solid and quickly wrapped up the contest after leading all the way.
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