Paris Olympics badminton: Lakshya Sen overcomes big-time nemesis Jonatan Christie to enter knockouts

Lakshya Sen in action against Jonatan Christie at Paris Olympics (Badminton Photo)

Lakshya Sen already knows what it feels like to win a medal in a major, multi-sport event, having taken gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. But you don’t find the Danes, Chinese or Indonesians in those Games, and the Olympics are a huge step up. Sen, a former junior world No. 1, caused one of the big upsets of the men’s singles competition so far by putting out Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, the No. 3 seed, in the group stage. If HS Prannoy, India’s highest-ranked player, tops his group later on Wednesday, the two will meet in the round of 16.

For Sen, this emphatic 21-18, 21-12 win was also a measure of revenge for a three-game loss to Christie in the semi-final of the prestigious All England Open last April. Christie made a storming start, racing into an 8-2 lead with the draft in the hall working in his favour. Someone who prefers the longer game from the back court, he tried to control proceedings that way.

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Sen is a more explosive player, with a devastating smash and considerable dexterity at the net. Once he found his groove, it became a battle of styles, with the conditions slightly in Christie’s favour. But Sen retrieved brilliantly, covered the court like a gazelle and showed impeccable judgement of which shuttles to leave. Soon, the 2-8 deficit became a 12-11 lead. And though fortunes fluctuated after that, Sen was the more adroit when it mattered.

The loss of the first game seemed to visibly deflate Christie, who was soon well adrift in the second with the draft now in Sen’s favour. Again, Sen’s ability to retrieve smashes and drop shots at the net was eye-catching. Christie won just two points on his own serve in the second game as Sen chased down everything, and played some devastating smashes that painted the lines.

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More than half a decade ago, Sen was a bronze medallist in the World Junior Championship. Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who won that tournament, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka and China’s Li Shifeng – the other semifinalists back then – are all seeded in Paris, and Naraoka could be a quarterfinal opponent if both make it that far. Shifeng, and Denmark’s Victor Axelsen, the reigning Olympic champion, are also in the same half of the draw. But daunting as that prospect is, Sen will be encouraged by the fact that he has beaten each of them at least once.

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