Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen went down fighting in his bronze medal match to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia. The 22-year-old shuttler was a game up in the bronze playoff but could not continue his dominant run as he lost 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 in 71 minutes.
For one and a half games, Lakshya was the more dominant shuttler but he faltered and lost some crucial points. He also hurt his elbow during the match which passingly derailed his momentum. The Indian shuttler has now opened up after his heartbreaking loss to the Malaysian.
"I had my chances in the second set and could have definitely done better. But credit to Lee Zii Jia, he played better. At the moment I am not able to... Midway in the sets, the blood was on the floor. They had to wipe it, and I lost some of my momentum," Lakshya told the broadcasters after his match.
The 22-year-old said he had prepared well for the bronze medal match. "I came well prepared for this match as well. It has been quite a tough week overall. But yeah, the fatigue kept on building. But I mean, I was ready to give my 100 per cent in this match," Sen added. Lakshya won the opening game without much difficulty and was leading 8-2 in the second game following which he lost his steam. He lost the second game 16-21 before being outplayed in the third one.
Lakshya came into this match with a 4-1 lead over Lee. He defeated Lee at the 2022 All England Championships and more recently at the 2023 Indonesia Open Super 1000. He was the last Indian standing in the Paris Olympics after the exit of medal hopefuls Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and PV Sindhu.
Lakshya came from a tough group and defeated third-seeded Jonatan Christie in his must-win group-stage match to cruise into the knockouts. He defeated compatriot HS Prannoy in the round of 16 before beating Chen Tien Chou in the quarterfinal. Lakshya was up against the defending champion Viktor Axelsen in the semifinal and lost to him.
