India’s youth sensation Lakshya Sen stormed into the final of the coveted All England Badminton Championship after beating Malaysia’s Ji Jia Lee 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in a three-game clash on Saturday in a thrilling semi-final. Lakshya went to the last point to win the contest in one hour and 16 minutes and became the first Indian male player to reach the final after 21 years.
Lakshya has become the third Indian male player to reach the final after the legendary Prakash Padukone in 1980 and Pullela Gopichand in 2001. This is the second consecutive win against Lakshya Ki Ji Jia Li. He also defeated the Malaysian player in the 2016 India International Series.
@lakshya_sen has joined an elite list of shuttlers!
Congratulations, champ!@himantabiswa , @AJAYKUM78068675 #AllEngland2022#IndiaontheRise #badminton pic.twitter.com/InlqPPyf4v
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) March 19, 2022
Lakshya, ranked 11th in the world rankings, won the first game against the sixth seed Malaysian 21-13 but lost the next game 12-21. Lakshya trailed 16-18 in the deciding game but took four consecutive points to take a 20-18 lead. Jia Li then took a point to score 19-20 but Lakshya took the required one point and ended the game at 21-19.
In the final, Lakshya will face number one seed Vaktir Axelsen of Denmark and fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Lakshya has been running in great rhythm for the last six months. He won his first Super 500 tournament in January this year in the form of the India Open and then finished runner-up at the German Open last week.