Lakshya Sen comes of age in big victory over world champion Loh

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tossing his racquet in the air and then going on to hug his coach courtside, followed by a ‘namaste’ gesture with a smile on his face. Lakshya Sen’s immediate celebrations after scoring  a big victory on Sunday said a lot. After promising so much at the lower levels, he has, going by his  recent run, well and truly arrived at the highest  level. 

Not long ago, he had joined the elite list of Indian shuttlers by becoming a World Championship medallist. Now, he can boast about becoming a India Open winner. It’s the biggest trophy (Super 500) of his young career at this level. It has to be noted that due to Covid disruption and travel hurdles, a few of the elite shuttlers have been off in recent times. 

Loh Kean Yew (World No 15 and world champion), Lakshya (World No 17) and Kidambi Srikanth (World No 10) were the only top-20 ranked men’s singles players in the draw. B Sai Praneeth (World No 18) had withdrawn after testing positive for Covid-19.But that does not take the sheen out of Lakshya’s victory. He has found a formula to cope during pressure games and elevated his finishing skills. Those skills were on display as he beat reigning Loh in the summit clash in straight games (24-22, 21-17) in just under an hour. 

Lakshya controlled the rallies well at the start and  was on top with a lead of 16-9 in the opening game. But Loh, expectedly, was not ready to yield easily. The Singapore shuttler fought back to garner six straight points, even managing to earn a game point.Lakshya, despite the pressure, managed to hold on and pocket the game.

In the second, Lakshya was patient in his rallies, forcing Loh to make errors. Lakshya also employed his cross-court smashes effectively. Loh was always chasing after a certain point and Lakshya ensured that he never got close, going on to seal the seal the contest.

“I didn’t come with a lot of expectations in this tournament as I didn’t get a lot of practice after the World Championships. But I came into the final with a much better rhythm as I played few good three game matches and I played more freely in the final today,” Lakshya said after the match.

Satwik-Chirag prevail

Earlier in the day, doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty saved five game points to beat top seeds and World No 2 pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan 21-16, 26-24. 

Winners

Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen (IND)
Women’s singles: Busanan Ongbamrungphan  (THA)
Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag  Shetty (IND)
Women’s doubles: Benyapa Aimsaard/Nuntakarn  Aimsaard (THA)
Mixed doubles: Hee Yong Kai Terry/Tan Wei Han (SGP)