Lakshya Sen fights hard to lose in three fights against defending Chinese All England champion Li Shifeng
Release date – Sunday 23 July 07:00
Council Bluffs: In the men’s singles semi-final of the US Badminton Championships held here, India’s badminton ace Lakshya Sen and defending All England champion Li Shifeng of China fought hard and were eliminated in three sets.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lakshya, the third seed here, went 17-21, 24- 22, 17-21 lost to the second seed Feng. Saturday night.
World No. 7 Feng and No. 12 Laksha engaged in a tight first-set match until 17 points, with China’s aggressive play surviving some unforced errors by the Indian. Take the lead in the case.
However, Lakshya, the bronze medalist of the World Championships, was not in the mood of surrendering without a fight, and rebounded strongly in the second game.
Like the opening game, in the second game, the two players also launched a desperate struggle, and it seemed that they had no intention of giving in.
Both players engaged in a lengthy confrontation and tried to outwit the other with clever lobs and smashes, but the battle continued until 22 points before Laksha leveled with two and brought the game into tiebreaker.
The deciding game was a replica of the first game, with Feng taking the lead at halftime and leading 11-8.
But Rakeshya kept chasing and it wasn’t until 17 points that his Chinese opponent stepped on the gas to pocket the game and the game.
Rakeshya, who is 5-2 against Feng, beat the Chinese 21-18, 22-20 last week to win the Canadian Open, his second BWF Super 500. Championship.
