Lakshya Sen’s anti-climactic meltdown ends India’s successful run in Olympic badminton

Paris: India's Lakshya Sen during the Men's Singles bronze medal badminton match. (PTI Photo)

The great Indian badminton dream came crashing down at the La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Monday. Lakshya Sen’s 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 defeat against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze-medal match in men’s singles was heartbreaking not only because he lost. This was a contest the Indian appeared to have wrapped up early in the second game after breezing through the first.

At 8-3 up in the second game, Lakshya Sen suffered a meltdown India had witnessed in his semi-final against Viktor Axelsen a day earlier, when he let a 7-0 advantage slip. Not having won more than three points in a row in the match until then, the Malaysian won nine successive points to take a 12-8 lead. That was actually the first time in the match that he went ahead of his Indian rival. Lee displayed a tremendous blend of aggressive and defensive badminton, but Sen made at least three unforced errors in this period.

There was no stopping the sixth seed thereafter, although Sen did stage a brief comeback to make it 12-12. But Lee never looked back once he reclaimed the lead and kept increasing the gap with some breathtaking retrieving. Errors started plaguing Sen, who also seemed to be troubled by a wound near his right elbow. He will still regret this. On successive days, he let the advantage go and that is unpardonable at this level, as he realised the hard way.

This defeat also ended India’s unforgettable run in badminton, which lasted over a decade. In the last three Olympic Games, Indians had secured three medals — bronze by Saina Nehwal in 2012 and silver and bronze by PV Sindhu in 2016 and 2021. Starting from 2011, when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claimed bronze in women’s doubles at the World Championship, Indians invariably got at least one medal at the biggest event of the year. Sen’s defeat ended that streak.

All defeats hurt, but this one will rankle considering that Sen was so close to achieving his goal. The sports ministry had spent nearly Rs 100 crore in the preparation of the badminton contingent in the last three years. And Sen was within touching distance of ensuring a podium finish. Had he been outplayed, it would have been a different matter. But that he failed to control the controllable when it came to the crunch is the part which is hard to digest.

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