Lakshya Sen created history after reaching the semi-finals of the men's singles badminton event at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Friday, August 2. The ace Indian shuttler defeated Chinese Taipei's Tien Chen Chou 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 to become India's first male badminton player to reach the semi-finals at the Summer Olympic Games.
The young Indian shuttler surprisingly lost an opening game by 21-19 but made a quick comeback with a dominant performance in the second set. Lakshya improved his return serves and anticipated Tien Chen's smashes well to record a morale-boosting 21-15 win in the second set.
In the third and decider game, Lakshya was the first to five points but his Chinese Taipei opponent kept the score in check. But Lakshya managed to maintain his lead to take the third game by 21-12 and stormed into the semi-finals with a memorable win.
The 22-year-old Lakshya remains India's only challenge in badminton at the 33rd Summer Games in Paris. He knocked out HS Prannoy in the quarter-final round on Thursday, the two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu suffered a round of 16 elimination and India's ace pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were shocked in the men's doubles quarter-finals.
India has managed to win a medal in badminton in the last three editions of the Summer Games. Sain Nehwal bagged the maiden badminton medal with a bronze in the 2012 London Games. PV Sindhu stormed into the finals in the 2016 Rio Games to settle for historic silver and then claimed a bronze in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics three years ago.
Lakshya is now just one win away from India's fourth Olympic medal in the Paris Summer Games. The Indian contingent has bagged three medals, all in shooting, in the ongoing Paris Games and remains in the hunt for a gold.
