Lakshya Sen has entered uncharted territory with his quarterfinal win over Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the badminton men's singles at the Paris Olympics and has become the first Indian male shuttler to book a berth in the semis of the Olympic Games.
However, Lakshya is now set to face his toughest opponent in the tournament in the form of the reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Lakshya has shown remarkable grit and determination throughout his campaign. His win over Chou Tien Chen was another example of his steadfastness. After going down by 19-21 in the first game, the 22-year-old Indian scripted a phenomenal comeback and claimed the second and the decisive game 21-15 and 21-12 to trump the Chinese Taipei shuttler and cement a berth in the semis.
On the other hand, Viktor's campaign has been smooth sailing thus far. He hammered Prince Dahal of Nepal 21-8 and 21-6 to get the proceedings underway in Paris. He then made mincemeat of Israel's Misha Zilberman 21-9, 21-11 and routed Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 21-13, 21-10 to storm into the round of 16.
The two-time BWF World Badminton Championship gold medallist was awarded a bye in the round of 16. He squared off against Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinals and thumped him 21-9, 21-17.
The quarterfinal clash against the former world champion Loh Kean Yew was expected to test the Tokyo gold medallist but it wasn't to be.
Axelsen was at ease in the first game and had things under control in the second even though the scoreline suggests otherwise.
Lakshya Sen vs Viktor Axelsen head-to-head record ahead of semifinal match at Paris Olympics
Viktor Axelsen has a favourable head-to-head record against Lakshya Sen. The Danish shuttler has won seven out of the eight meetings against Lakshya whereas the latter has only managed to register a solitary win. Lakshya's only win over Axelsen came on March 12, 2022, at the German Open.
Date |
Tournament |
Player 1 |
Player 2 |
Winner |
Wed 5/29/2024 |
Singapore Badminton Open 2024 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Fri 5/13/2022 |
BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2022 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Sun 3/20/2022 |
All England Open Badminton Championships 2022 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Sat 3/12/2022 |
German Open 2022 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Lakshya Sen |
Sat 12/4/2021 |
BWF World Tour Finals 2021(New dates) |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Thu 12/2/2021 |
BWF World Tour Finals 2021(New dates) |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Thu 10/21/2021 |
Denmark Open 2021 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Thu 3/12/2020 |
All England Open 2020 |
Lakshya Sen |
Viktor Axelsen |
Viktor Axelsen |