CWG 2022: After Sindhu, Lakshya Sen storms to men's singles final
Premium- Lakshya Sen regained his rhythm just in time to enter his maiden final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday
Lakshya Sen regained his rhythm just in time to enter his maiden final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday. The world number 10 lost his way after a dominating start against 87-ranked Jia Heng Teh of Singapore. Sen however recovered to complete a 21-10, 18-21, 21-16 win in the men's singles semifinals.
In the first men's singles semifinal, Sen was stretched by his Singaporean opponent. He relied on relentless attack to put his Singaporean opponent on the backfoot and he was able to do that in the first game. A couple of forehand smashes on the Singaporean's right helped him take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The momentum shifted towards Jia in the second game as he slowed the pace of the game. A drop shot followed by a backwand winner made it 8-8 before Jia went into the interval with a 9-11 advantage.
A slew of unforced errors from Sen saw Jia take the next five points to make it 9-16. Sen tried to hang in the game, but after the Singaporean took a shoe change break at 15-18, he was able to level the match when Sen hit a forehand long.
Sen built an 11-7 lead in the decider though Jia made the Indian work hard for every point. The Singaporean was also given a last warning for delay in between points.
Sen got four points and converted the first one with a deft drop shot that set up a backhand winner.
"I didn't get in the rhythm in the second but I managed to pull it off in the end. The crowd support also helped a lot in the first game," said Sen.
"It was a tough game today. I have played him before, so I was expecting a good, fast-paced match.
"I wanted to control the net much better, but overall and from the back, the defence was very good. That was a really good match before the final," said Sen.
Meanwhile, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ensured a third gold medal match for India on Monday when they downed Malaysia's Chen Peng Soon and Tian Kian Men 21-6, 21-15 to reach the men's doubles final. The world number 7 duo was too good for the Malaysians.
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