Indian shuttler Sen’s impressive run cut short at All England Open

ANOTHER impressive week ended with a semi-final finish for star shuttler Lakshya Sen, who narrowly lost a three-game battle against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie at the All England Championships in Birmingham last Saturday (16), prolonging India’s wait for the coveted trophy.

In a game of fine margins, the 22-year-old, who had finished as a runner-up in the 2022 edition, was marginally short as he slipped to a 21-12, 10- 21, 15-21 defeat to world no 9 Christie, the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist.

Christie beat fellow Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in last Sunday’s (17) final.

Sen, who reached the semifinals of the French Open Super 750 the previous week, has spent 491 minutes on court playing some nerve-wracking badminton in the last 11 days.

Though he failed to go the distance, the last two weeks have been memorable for Sen, who was looking down and out after a series of first-round exits, including losses at the Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 this season.

The back-to-back semi-final finishes are likely to secure his Paris Olympic berth when the BWF [Badminton World Federation] rankings are published by the end of April.

“I was pretty disappointed with the result. I want to close matches in two games. I feel with the way I played the second game I could continue it a bit more patiently but the rallies went long and a few errors here and there (did it). It’s time to reflect back on the mistakes I made,” said Sen after the match.

At the All England Championships, the oldest badminton tournament in the world, Sen beat fourth-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen and Malaysia’s world no 10 Lee Zii Jia en route to the semifinals but Christie proved to be a roadblock.

Last Friday (15) night, Sen displayed great mental resolve for a stunning win over former champion Malaysia’s Jia to progress to the men’s singles semifinals. He produced good variations while attacking and kept fighting to outlast Lee 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 in an absorbing quarterfinal.