Indian ace shuttler Lakshya Sen went down fighting against defending Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the semifinal of the men's singles at the Paris Games on Sunday, August 4. Lakshya, who was looking to become the second-ever Indian shuttler to reach a final at the Games, went down in straight games 20-22, 14-21 in a 54-minute contest.
Lakshya was already the first Indian man to play a semifinal of a badminton event in the Olympic Games and was looking to be second after PV Sindhu to enter into a final. But his dream run was halted by the tall defending champion Axelsen. But Lakshya is still in contention for a medal as he will play in a bronze playoff.
Lakshya to face Lee Zii Jia
Lakshya Sen will now be facing Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia for the bronze medal match. Lee went down to the 2023 World Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the other semifinal 14-21, 15-21.
While Lakshya had a 1-7 head-to-head against Axelsen ahead of their semifinal, he has a much more favourable face-off against Lee. The Indian enjoys a 4-1 lead over the Malaysian and would fancy his chances of a historic bronze.
The bronze medal match is scheduled to take place on August 5. As per the Paris Olympics official website, the medal matches will begin at 6:00 PM IST with Lakshya's game against Lee to be played first. The Gold medal match will begin after 7:10 PM IST, as per the website schedule.
Coming back to the Lakshya vs Axelsen semifinal, the Indian shuttler was leading the first game 17-12 and even had three game points to his name at 20-17. But the Dane stormed back, saving all three points to put it 20-20 before converting the next two to win the opening game 22-20.
Axelsen was slow off the blocks in the second game and Lakshya had a comprehensive 7-0 lead in his must-win game but the defending champion yet again came from behind to first close the lead and then take his own. He had six match points at 20-14 and didn't need any further as he sealed the game and the match to make his way into the finals.
