Birmingham: World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen defeated reigning champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia to reach the All England Badminton Championships final for the first time on Saturday. He is only the fifth Indian shuttler to reach the final of the elite Super 1000 event in Birmingham, and the first in 21 years.
Sen, 20, beat Lee 21-13 12-21 21-19 in a grueling semifinal match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes, becoming only the fourth man’s singles player to reach the final after Prakash Nath, Prakash Padukone, and Pullela Gopichand.
HE DID IT 😍🔥@lakshya_sen becomes the 5️⃣th 🇮🇳 shuttler to reach the FINALS at @YonexAllEngland as he gets past the defending champion WR-7 🇲🇾's Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19, in the enthralling semifinals encounter 💪
Way to go!🔝#AllEngland2022#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/KL8VB9j2om
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) March 19, 2022
While Padukone (1980) and Gopichand (2001) are the only two Indians to have won the prestigious event, Nath (1947) and women’s singles player Saina Nehwal (2015) had lost in the final.
In the last six months, Sen has been in phenomenal form. In December, he won his first world championship bronze, followed by his first Super 500 title at the India Open in January and a runner-up result at the German Open last week.
And now, Lakshya Sen awaits the Viktor Axelsen challenge in the final of this tournament. Axelsen, 28, of Denmark, who is still undefeated, reached his fourth straight All England Open final, defeating Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, the World No. 4, in straight games, 21-13, 21-15.
Meanwhile, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly of India made history on Friday by defeating Korean second seeds Lee Sohee and Shin Seungchan 14-21 22-20 21-15 to advance to the semi-finals.
