India’s hopes for silverware in England continue to stay alive as Lakshya Sen mustered up a fabulous come-from-behind win against former champion Lee Zii Jia in three sets to progress to the semifinals of the All England Open Badminton Championships.
Lakshya could not get off to a good start, as Lee’s veteran experience guided him in edging out the Indian in the first set to clinch a close 22-20 win and take the advantage.
Sen fought back hard and kept the fight close, yet Lee kept his arm’s length away from the Indian’s counters. But, with the score at 14-16, in favour of Lee in the second set, Lakshya went off on a rampage, destroying Lee 21-16 to clinch the second set and tie up the game.
Both competitors went the distance in the final set, but ultimately it was Sen, who got the better of the World No. 10, and clinched the set 21-19, to seals the game and progress to the next round.
After the 1 hour 11 minute slogfest victory, Sen, who is ranked 18th in the world currently, bettered his career record against Lee to 4-1.
A runner-up at Arena Birmingham two years ago, Sen had been going through a rough patch the last few months to suffer seven first round exits on the BWF World Tour. In the eighth he was ousted in the second round.
But now, he remains as the last standing Indian in the tournament, with the likes of PV Sindhu, and Satwik-Chirag crashing out early.
Next up, Sen will face the winner of the quarter-final between Chinese second seed Shi Yu Qi and Indonesian Jonatan Christie.
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