There is a special relationship Lakshya Sen shares with the All England Open. First and foremost, the 23-year-old has grown up under the influence of his mentor and former champion Prakash Padukone.
In 2022, he followed in the footsteps of Padukone to reach the final of the world’s oldest badminton tournament, that too against run of form, beating much higher ranked opponents. Last year, the Almora-born was all but out of the Race to Paris before a semi-final appearance in Birmingham helped him qualify for his maiden Olympics where he missed a medal by a whisker.
This year too, Sen has been suffering with poor form, having exited all competitions he has taken part in, in early rounds. It perhaps takes his special relationship with the All England Open to change things around which is exactly what Sen did when he beat reigning champion and world No.2 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-13, 21-10 to make the men’s singles quarter-finals of the $1.45 million event on Thursday.
“The way I approach this tournament, I feel I have that extra motivation to do well here every time I come here. Two years back, even last year, I was close to the finals. I really focus to do well here,” Sen said after ousting the third seed in what his third win in seven meetings against the Indonesian.
Sen, who has been struggling this year, hardly broke a sweat against Christie, who had ousted the Indian in the semi-finals last year, just like Sen had sent the reigning Asian champion packing from the group stages of the Paris Olympics.
Sen looked confident from the start, never really allowing Christie to settle down as he kept taking away several chunk of points, attacking the net as well as employing his lethal smash. Christie continued making errors which handed the first game quickly to the Indian.
The world No.2 tried fighting back in the second game but Sen upped the ante as Christie continued to struggle and lost the contest in just 36 minutes.
“It was a good match. After the first round, I was just preparing for this one. I’m happy with the way I played. Right from the beginning, I came in with a good approach. Looking forward to continuing this momentum. I just wanted to close out on both the games because he can come back from any situation. I was just trying to finish it off,” Sen said after the match.
“In the beginning, it was just about keeping the shuttle in play and not giving easy points. But then, moving quick on court because he was also trying to play really fast from the left. I was just trying to contain him and then go for the smashes whenever I could. Both of us knew the shuttles are going to come back. I was really prepared for a really good match.”
Having beaten one All England Open champion, Sen will be up against another as he takes on 2023 winner Li Shifeng of China against who the world No.15 has a 7-4 record.
Satwik-Chirag pull out
However, it was the end of the road for star doubles prospects Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who pulled out of their Round 2 clash against Hao Nan Xie and Wei Han Zeng of China. The seventh seeds were trailing 16-21, 2-2 when a former back injury of Shetty flared up, causing the former Asian champions to withdraw from the Super 1000 tournament.
Malvika Bansod’s run also ended in the second round of women’s singles when she lost 16-21, 13-21 to two-time former world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. This was the world No.3’s fourth win in as many matches against the Indian.
India’s campaign also ended in mixed doubles as Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde lost 10-21, 12-21 to fifth seeded Chinese pair of Zhe Feng Yan and Xin Wei Ya.
