Agony for India continued on Day 10 as the country's medal tally stayed at three with Lakshya Sen losing his bronze medal match against Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia despite winning the opening game on Monday, August 5 in Badminton men's singles. Zii Jia won 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 to clinch the bronze medal as India's dream of an individual medal in badminton in men's competition was broken and the streak too ended after winning medals in 2012, 2016 and Tokyo 2020 albeit all women.
Lakshya began the clash on a thunderous note with an early lead. He was spot-on with his lifts and smashes and once he had hold over Lee Zii Jia, he didn't let it go. Lee Zii Jia tried his best and even got a few points but he was forcing his way and Lakshya proved to be too good for his opponent and took the first set rather comfortably in just 20 minutes.
Lakshya was cruising in the second game as well until he wasn't. From 7-3, the scoreline suddenly was level at 8-8 in the second game as Lee Zii Jia sped up his shots and movement on the court. Zii Jia's new-found intensity was all of a sudden proving to be too much for Lakshya, who had a bleeding on his right arm.
The constant breaks to get medical attention was affecting Lakshya's momentum and concentration. Lakshya did earn a couple of points here and there but Zii Jia was assured enough to take the match to the decider.
The final game saw the best of Lee Zii Jia. Zii Jia was flying, jumping and smashing around the court with thunderous returns which a slightly injured Lakshya didn't have a clue about. After being 2-9 behind, Lakshya did come back better with a couple of smashing returns, but to no effect. Lee Zii Jia always had a retaliation waiting until he became too steep a bridge for Lakshya to cross and eventually faltered.
India's badminton contingent will return empty-handed from Paris while Lakshya's loss was the country's second fourth-placed finish on the day and fifth overall in the Paris Olympics following Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh's 43-44 agonising loss in the mixed team skeet shooting bronze medal match against China.
