India shuttler Lakshya Sen’s remarkable campaign concluded on a disappointing note after he narrowly missed out on the bronze medal in the men’s singles event at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Monday.
Lakshya Sen, just like many other Indian athletes, stood on the cusp of making history at the Paris Olympics.
He was in contention for becoming the first Indian shuttler to win a medal in the men’s singles event at the Olympics.
However, he came close but ended up too far from etching his name in the history books following his 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 loss against Malaysia’s Zii Jia Lee and finished fourth in the event.
With Lee on the service and Sen on the receiving end, an intense rally between the two shuttlers unfolded to begin the proceedings for the bronze medal match. The Malaysian shuttler hit it too long beyond the backline to allow Lakshya to take the first set.
A nervy start from Lee forced another error from him, handing an early two-point lead to Lakshya. He misjudged the landing spot of the shuttle, making the scoreline 2-1.
Lakshya regained a two-point lead after Lee’s return went wide at 4-2. Lakshya took three consecutive points after the Malaysian continued to misplace his shots.
Lee reduced the deficit to three with a cross-court smash to make the scoreline 7-4. Once again, a couple of errors from Lee continued to haunt him and widened the gap, making the scoreline 10-4.
Lakshya, who showcased his prowess with his flawless defence, bombarded fierce smashes to extend his lead to 11-6.
Lakshya continued to exercise control in the opening set with the versatility of his shots and sealed the first set with a 21-13 win.
With the seventh-seeded Malaysian shuttler eyeing a comeback in the second set, Lakshya didn’t give him much room to shift the momentum.
He raced to an 8-3 lead, but Lee restored the parity with five consecutive points. Lee took eight consecutive points to lead by three points at the half-time break.
Lakshya broke Lee’s streak of points with a ferocious smash, and he followed it up with another cross-court smash to unsettle Lee.
He chased down the lead, making the scoreline 12-12. Lee once again restored a slender lead, but Lakshya didn’t allow the Malaysian to extend his lead with powerful in-line body smashes.
Lakshya tried to close the gap, but the Malaysian held his nerves to maintain the gap and level the scoreline at 1-1 with a 16-21 win in the second set.
In the bronze medal decider, Lakshya was outplayed by Lee’s forehand, backhand, and relentless smashes.
Lee raced to a 2-9 lead by executing gobsmacking smashes. Lakshya managed to reduce the gap to 6-11 before the mid-break. Eventually, he never recovered from the deficit and lost the third set and the bronze medal by 11-21.