Birmingham- World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen advanced to the men’s singles semifinals of the 2022 All England Open Badminton Championships after getting a walkover from his quarterfinals opponent Lu Guang Zu of China, here on Friday.
“@lakshya_sen advanced into the Semifinals #AllEngland2022 #IndiaontheRise,” said BAI Media in a tweet.
Sen, who had a great start to 2022 by winning the India Open and reached the finals of German Open last week, will now face the winner of the match between Malaysia’s sixth seed Lee Zii Jia and Japan’s second seed Kento Momota in the last four round.
The 20-year-old from Almora on Thursday defeated world No 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-16, 21-18 in his second-round match to reach the quarterfinals.
“There was a bit of drift, so keeping that in mind, I had two game plans in mind. In the first game I was just trying to keep the shuttle back and I could get a good length. In the second game from the faster side, I took my chances and going for my smashes really helped,” Sen said after the win.
“I’m in really good form and the tournaments I played last year gave me a lot of confidence. The India Open win was a big boost. As a kid you always want to win at the All England as this event has a rich history, so it’s an important tournament for me and I look forward to doing well,” he added.
The young Indian shuttler is in great form, having beaten world champion Loh Kean Yew and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand on Friday created history after beating Lee Sohee-Shin Seungchuan 14-21, 22-20, 21-15. With their sensational win, Treesa-Gayatri became the first Indian women’s pair to make the semifinal of All England.
However, the fifth-seeded Indian pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 22-24, 17-21 to Indonesian top seed Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the quarterfinal, which lasted for 47 minutes.
–IANS