All England Open: Lakshya Sen beats World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia, becomes 5th Indian to reach final
Lakshya Sen
India's Lakshya Sen scripted history on Saturday as he became only the fifth Indian shuttler to reach the finals at All England Open.
The World No. 11 Lakshya ended Lee Zii Jia's title defence in the men's singles semi-final with an excellent 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 victory at the prestigious Super 1000 tournament.
The 20-year-old shuttler, who hails from Almora, Uttrakhand, is the first Indian man to reach the final of All England in as long as 21 years. Only 3 Indian men have achieved the feat - Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980 and 1981) and Pulle Gopichand (2001). And, only Padukone and Gopichand have won the coveted title for India in the past.
Saina Nehwal reached the final in 2015 but ended up losing the big game to the 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Carolina Marin of Spain.
On Saturday, Lakshya took an hour and 16 minutes in what was a performance full of class and grit to defeat World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia. In the first game, the Indian shuttler evidently frustrated Lee Zii Jia with his defense. However, the defending champion came back strong in the second game as he overwhelmed Lakshya with his pace. Lee put pressure on Lakshya both at the net and from the backcourt as he forced a deciding third game.
Lee took an early lead in the third game as he raced to 16-12. Keeping up with his pace, Lakshya also stayed calm and managed to turned tables around just in time. The young Indian star closed the gap and converted his second match point to seal the contest in front of a pumped up Indian crowd in Birmingham.
Over the last few months, Lakshya has had an impressive rise. He won the world championship bronze last year before winning his maiden Super 500 title at India Open earlier this year. Last week, Lakshya stunned World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen to finish runners-up at German Open.
Lakshya's journey at the ongoing All England Open has also been inspiring as he has reached the final after beating World No. 3 Anders Antonsen and World No. 5 Anthony Ginting in straight games in Birmingham before outclassing World No. 7, Lee.
Earlier, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal bowed out in the second round. The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a loss in the quarters. Interestingly, Kidambi Srikanth lost to Indonesia's Anthony Ginting, who then went on to lose to Lakshya.