Lakshya finishes runner-up in All England Open, loses to Dane Viktor Axelsen

of Denmark in the final here on Sunday. This was Lakshya’s third final appearance in three events this year. The Indian has been in an incredible form since his bronze medal finish at the World championships last year. On his way to final, the youngster staged a major upset as he has defeated last edition’s winner Lii Zee Jia of Malaysia in the semifinals. In the round-16, he has trounced world no 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark. After his semi-final win over Malaysia, Lakshya became the fourth Indian male shuttler, after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980, 1981) and Pullela Gopichand (2001), and overall, fifth to enter the final of the prestigious Super 1000 event final. Saina Nehwal entered the final in 2015 and ended up as a runner-up. Moreover, he became the first Indian men’s singles player to reach the final of the All England after 21 years. Only two Indians have won the Open since it started in 1899. Padukone was the first Indian to win the singles title in 1980. Pullela Gopichand became the second to win in 2001. Axelsen dominated the opening game and he took an early 6-0 lead and head on to break with a massive 11-2 advantage. Post break, Lakshya did manage to earn few points, but Dane extended his lead to 19-9. Though Axelsen has an unassailable lead, Lakshya made him work hard to win the set, 21-10. In the second game, Axelsen held an early lead but Lakshya levelled it up (4-all) before the Dane regained a 4-point lead and raced to 11-5 advantage at the time of interval. After the break, Lakshya took three points in a row and reduced the gap in the scores. The Dane was in a different form as he stretched the lead 17-10 and making things tougher for the Indian. Both the shuttlers were involved in longer rallies during the game, the longest rally match consists of 70 shots. Axelsen continued to hold a massive lead and raced to match point 20-12 but Lakshya was not ready give up easily as he saved three match points before the Dane wrapped up the win with 21-15. In the 2022 season, Lakshya Sen beat reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore to clinch his maiden Super 500 titles. In the German Open last week, the 20-year-old Almora boy stunned Anthony Ginting of Indonesia, who is ranked 5th in the world in round 16. In the semi-final of the same event, Sen defeated Axelsen to enter the finals. However, he ended up as a runner-up. (UNI)