Sen falls to Axelsen, to play bronze-medal playoff

INDIA'S dream of a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton will remain unfulfilled after Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning champion Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles semifinals at the Paris Games here on Sunday.

The 22-year-old from Almora, a world championships bronze medallist, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash.

Sen will get another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff.

India have never won an Olympic gold medal in badminton with PV Sindhu claiming a silver and bronze at the Rio and Tokyo editions and Saina Nehwal securing a bronze in the London Games.

It was Sen's eighth loss to the Danish star with the Indian beating him only once at the 2022 German Open final.

"If I would have closed the first game, then I would have had better chance of closing the match. In the second game also, I started well but couldn't keep the lead," Sen told the broadcaster after the contest.

About losing the first game after being 20-17 ahead, Sen said "As the game went on, he started attacking more and I became passive, only defending. I should have taken chances and attacked more."

Axelsen thus made it to his second successive final at the Olympics and is now one step away from joining Chinese legend Lin Dan as a two-time gold medallist.

Of all his previous losses, this will hurt Sen the most as he had the chance to deal the first blow on his fancied opponent, but instead, he wilted under pressure against the towering Dane, who always found a way to wriggle out of tricky situations.

Axelsen's delaying tactics while serving also unsettled Sen a bit.

Summing up the match, Sen said, "I would take my learnings and positives from this game and give my 100 per cent in bronze medal match.

"My parents, brother (Chirag Sen) is there in stands to support me. My mother is cooking lunch and dinner and sending me. I have got lot of support from the crowd and hope they will come tomorrow for the bronze medal match also." (PTI)