Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Lakshya Sen made history at the Olympic Games, becoming the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semifinals in men’s singles badminton competition on August 2. While PV Sindhu had bagged two medals in the Olympic Games and Saina Nehwal had claimed a bronze in the 2012 edition in London, no Indian male player had reached the medal rounds in the Olympics.
Sen achieved that feat with a hard-fought victory over Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 76-minute encounter in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
Sen, the lone Indian shuttler still in the fray in the Paris Olympics, lost the first game after the Taipei player opened up a 5-2 lead. Though the Indian star levelled scores at 5-5, his rival continued to maintain the upper hand and opened up a 14-9 lead, Sen again fought back to seven points in a row to take a 17-15 lead. However, Chen could not be denied, and he went on to win the game 21-19.
Sen took an early lead in the second game, but the Taipei player kept at his heels and after a quick exchange of points, they were tied 13-13 when the Indian shuttler, a former World Championships bronze medallist, took control of the proceedings and won five points in a row to open up a 18-13 gap. He went on to win the game 21-15 to take it to the decider.
