Lakshya Sen’s historic dream run in his debut Olympic campaign continues as the Indian shuttler would topple 12th seed Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Men’s Singles on Friday.
In a thriller filled with high-octane rallies, Sen would ultimately triumph against Chou Tien Chen, taking it to three games of 19-21, 21-15, 21-12.
Sen made his way to the quarters with outstanding wins against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and his Indian compatriot HS Prannoy, to join the likes of Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, as the only male shuttlers to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics.
With his win, Sen now becomes the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semi-finals of the Men’s Badminton in the Olympics.
Sen will now take on either Loh Kean Yew or Viktor Axelsen on the 4th of August.
Both shuttlers started off the first game calm and cool, trading points back and forth, to keep the encounter tightly contested.
Chen then turned up the heat, taking Sen by surprise with some fiery smashes and fancy footwork to build a 3-point lead at 5-2.
The Indian though wouldn’t budge, and would shift to another gear of his own to once again draw level at 5-5.
Chen’s disguised aggression would prove to be a thorn for Sen. But, the young 22-year-old made up for it with his own trademark reflexes as both ensued in a heated battle, exchanging points yet again to finish the first game 10-11 at the halfway mark in favour of Chen.
There would be not stopping the World No. 12 Chen initally out of the break, as he would go on a rampage, scoring the next 3 points in a row, to pile the pressure on Sen. But, the Indian wouldn’t budge easily, and claw his way back to tie up the game yet again at 15-15.
Sen’s onslaught wouldn’t end as he would score the next two points to take the lead. But, a thriller of rallies would ensue to once again as Chen would overpower Sen and hoist a comeback to win the game 21-19.
The initial setback would only fire up Sen in the second hame, as he would start off with sheer aggression to take a 4-1 lead over the Taipei national.
But, as showcased before, Chen’s calculated attacks would only power him to make a comeback and get one over Sen, as the tables would turn 5-4 in favour of Chen.
But, again a fiery exchange of smashes would once again lead to a heated battle, as both shuttlers would go into the halfway break with the scores 11-10 in favour of Sen.
There would be no separating the two, until Sen would turn the heat up again, to overwhelm Chen and build a 5-point lead at 18-13 to ultimately hold onto the lead and seal the second game 21-15 to push Chen to the final decider.
Both shuttlers would leave it all on the floor in every way possible, scrambling to save every point as the third set would get off to yet another close contest at 5-4 to Sen.
But, the Indian would finally find the much-needed breakthrough, pummelling Chen with smashes galore to build a four-point lead of 11-7 at the halfway break.
Chen would rally back with replies of his own, but Sen would hold on vehemently, maintaining his lead and finish off Chen 21-12 to progress to the seminfinals.
With his historic win, Sen now stands as the lone Indian shuttler across all events to potentially bring Olympic glory for India.
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