New Delhi: Move over PV Sindhu, here comes India’s latest star shuttler.
It was a red-letter day for Lakshya Sen as he tamed world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 24-22, 21-17 in the men’s singles final of Indian Open to lift his maiden BWF World Tour Super 500 title.
Sindhu suffered an unexpected defeat in the women’s singles semifinal.
Born in a badminton family from Almora, the 20-year-old Lakshya had served notice last year when he clinched bronze medal at the BWF World Championships after going down to Kidambi Srikanth.
Playing at home, the 20-year-old trainee at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy capped a fine run with a dominating performance against Loh.
Lakshya maintained a narrow lead in the first game before it got close towards the end. An error in judgment by the Sigaporean player ultimately handed Lakshya a 1-0 advantage.
Loh took an early lead in the second game too, but Lakshya once again bounced back strongly to lead 11-9 at the break. The Indian reeled off five straight points thereafter, and it proved to be too big a gap to bridge for Loh.
Lakshya’s first two BWF senior titles came in the form of Super 100 tournament wins in 2019. He also bagged bronze in the World Junior Championships and silver in Youth Olympic Games – both in 2018.
