Lakshya Sen Reaches Final Of All England Badminton; Looks To Emulate Padukone & Gopichand

Birmingham: India’s Lakshya Sen toppled defending champion Lee Jii Zia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 on Saturday evening to reach the final of the All England Badminton Championships.

On Sunday, the 20-year-old Lakshya will face the winner of the second semifinal between world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and fourth-seeded Chou Tien Chen.

Lakshya will look to emulate Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand – the only Indians to have won the prestigious tournament.

Padukone lifted the trophy in 1980 and finished runner-up in 1981, while Gopichand emerged victor in 2001.

Having got a walkover in the quarterfinal, Lakshya started as the underdog against Malaysian Lee. The young India, however, showed that he means business and led from the start on way to pocketing the opening game comfortably.

Lee bounced back strongly to set up a third game. The Indian trailed for most of the decider but turned it on home stretch. He missed one match point at 20-18 before sealing the match in an hour 16 minutes.

Lakshya had made the semis of the BWF World Championships three months before going down in a thrilling three-setter to compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.