2024 Paris Olympics, badminton: India's Lakshya Sen reaches semi-finals
What's the story
India's Lakshya Sen came from behind to overcome 34-year-old Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the badminton men's singles quarter-finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday.
It was a closely-fought contest between the two. Chen took the first game 21-19, showing his experience.
Sen fought back and dominated the scenes thereafter, winning the second game 21-15.
The decider saw Sen win 21-12.
Clash
How did the first two games pan out?
The quarter-final contest saw an intense start with long rallies ruling the show. Both shuttlers were defending extremely well. At the mid-game interval, Sen was trailing 9-11.
Sen stepped up after that, winning six successive points. However, Chen pulled the strings to win 21-19.
In the second game, Sen led Chen 11-10 at the mid-game interval before dominating the proceedings to win 21-15.
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How did the deciding game pan out?
The deciding game saw Sen take the impetus and race to an 11-7 lead. He was superb and continued his dominance by advancing to the net. Post the mid-game interval, Sen maintained a healthy lead and saw out the contest 21-12.
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Here's the head-to-head record
This was the fifth meeting between the pair. Sen won his second encounter. Before this, Chen owned a 3-1 record over the Indian shuttler. Chen had won the pair's last clash at the 2023 BWF World Tour Singapore Open. Chen won by a 2-1 margin.
Journey
Sen's journey in Parisย
Placed in Group L, Sen won all his matches. He beat Guatamela's Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20 in the opener.
Belgium's Julien Carraggi was beaten next in a 21-19, 21-14 affair. Sen took down Indonesia's Jonatan Christie 21-18, 21-12 to showcase his credentials.
In the round of 16, Sen dispatched fellow Indian HS Prannoy 21-12, 21-6.
And now, he won in three games versus Chen.
Twitter Post
Twitter Post
๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐! An absolutely brilliant performance from Lakshya Sen as he becomes the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semi-final in the men's singles event at the Olympics.
โ India at Paris 2024 Olympics (@sportwalkmedia) August 2, 2024
๐ธ A very evenly contested match between the two players but Lakshya's resilienceโฆ pic.twitter.com/FeD9ZhXcwD