Star badminton player Lakshya Sen missed out on a historic date as she lost in three sets to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the semi-finals of the All England Championships in Birmingham on Saturday. India’s long wait for the coveted trophy. In a weak match, the 22-year-old runner-up in 2022 lost to the world No. 9 21-12, 10-21, 15-21. Christie, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist, after a brilliant 68-minute performance.
“I’m very disappointed with the result, but overall, with the way I play, I’m certainly capable of competing and winning big matches,” Sen said after the game.
“I’ve been through some tough times before this but I’ve been given a lot of support on social media but I didn’t do my best today. I made some simple mistakes.” Christie will now play in Sunday’s final Taking on fellow Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
Sen, who reached the French Open Super 750 semi-finals last week, has played 491 minutes on the court over the past 11 days, playing some nerve-wracking badminton, and perhaps those grueling three-set matches may have taken a toll on him as he Lost momentum in the semifinals.
But when the BWF rankings are announced at the end of April, back-to-back semi-final results will likely seal his spot at the Paris Olympics.
“All the games I’ve played have been long, so I can feel that in my recovery and preparation for the next day’s game. Everyone has to win on that day,” Mori said.
“There were some games where I started really slow in the first set and had a good lead but couldn’t convert in the first set. That’s the one thing I’m hoping to end on in both games.” Friday night, Sen showed great determination and advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals by defeating former champion Malaysian Li Zijia 20-22, 21-16, 21-19.
In the semi-finals, the two attackers engaged in a fierce confrontation with lightning speed of over 350 kilometers per hour.
Sen started extremely slowly and Christie dominated the match by reading the game well and winning early. Soon, Sen’s shot missed and he led 11-7.
The Indonesian punished any Indian shortcomings and extended the lead to 17-10 with another powerful cross-court smash.
Another net error and a big kill from the Indian gave Christie eight game points and a game-winner to seal the victory.
However, after changing sides, the momentum completely changed and Sen took the initiative, leading 7-3.
Now it’s Christie who makes a series of unforced errors.
One such error at the net and a long shot gave the Indian a huge 11-3 advantage, making it 13-3 when he returned a towering smash from the Indonesian with a backhand block. .
Christie tried to change the situation, but his mistakes hindered him, and Sen chased the score to 17-5.
Sen chased the score to 18-6 with a smash at 379 kilometers per hour. The Indian even fought back from behind in a tight exchange, but Christie managed to win the match and soon made it 9-18 in an attempt to break Sen’s rhythm.
But Sen pushed the score to 10 game points when Christie raced out of the sideline and sealed the victory with a pinpoint line smash.
In the deciding set, Sen used well-designed shots to organize the game from the beginning, leaving his opponent in the backcourt and leading 3-0. However, Christie tied the score with a three-pointer.
Sen’s strong and accurate smashing ability put him in a good position and he led 6-3.
With the score at 6-4, the pair put on a 63 that wore Sen down before Christie sealed the deal with a well-concealed shot.
Christie grabbed the lead with a body-crushing shot, then entered halftime with a three-point advantage and the momentum shifted again.
Soon, the Indonesian began to hit strong smashes. Christie’s sharp baseline smash brought the score to 13-9, and another body smash kept the 4-point advantage at 14-10.
Sen sent a flick serve into the net, giving Christie a 15-10 lead. Christie’s series of smashes brought the score to 17-12, and soon he got 8 match points.
The Indian saved three match points before a shot on goal dashed all hopes.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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