Paris Olympics 2024: Lakshya Sen Misses Out on Historic Bronze in Men’s Badminton, Loses To

It just was not meant to be for Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen who fell just short of scripting history, losing out on the Bronze medal in the Men’s Singles Badminton with a tough loss to Malaysia’s Zii Jia Lee at the Paris Olympics on Monday.

The 22-year-old Indian left it all on the floor but ultimately fell to the World No.7 Lee in three games of 21-13,16-21, 21-11, losing out on the bronze medal.

The first game between Sen and Lee would start off with a long rally, almost setting the tone of the rest of the long winding encounter to unfold.

Sen started off the first game looking supremely confident, gliding across the court fluidly and finding his spors to pester the Malaysian out the gate.

Lee fought back with clever defensive play and a few smashes of his own. But the Indian was relentless on the attack, building on his early lead to stand at a strong 11-5 lead at the halfway break of the first game.

The Malaysian wouldn’t succumb without a fight though, as his resilient defense, coupled with some surprising lapses of concentration from an orherwise resolute Sen, would allow Lee to stay alive in the game.

But, all of his efforts would sreap no benefit as Sen would clinch the first game 21-13 with ease.

The second game though saw a replenished Lee come out more energetic and attack-minded. But, the 22-year-old Indian kept up with the change of pace and went on the counter attack, unloading a couple of other-worldly smashes to once again build the slender early lead at 7-2.

But, as fate would have it, Sen’s luck would turn, as a relentless Lee would in fact close in on the Indian before ultimately overwhelming Sen to take the lead at 11-8 going into the halfway break after scoring eight straight points.

Fighting against the momentum shift, Sen would finally find his breakthrough at 12-8, when Lee would score one out of bounds. And yet again, the 22-year-old would go on a rampage of his own, piling the pressure on the Malaysian and tying the game up at 12-12.

The back and forth of aggression would ensue for the remainder of the set, as both shuttlers fought hard to break away from the other and build a lead.

Lee would end up finally finding a bit of a break, by going up 19-16 on Sen, to pile the pressure on the Indian and push for a third game. The Malaysian would have his wish, as he would steal the second game away from Sen, 21-16, to push for a decider.

With the medal on the line and one last game to play, both shuttler would come out with sheer aggression and fiery smashes, to amp up the tempo of the match, trading points.

But, it would be Lee who would rise above Sen after the initial period, to pepper Sen with countless smashes and outstanding diving saves to build a solid 6-point lead at 8-2.

Sen would finally resort to his initial tactic of finding angles to counter Lee’s rampage and try to fight back into the game, but could only slump to 6 points by the halfway break, while Lee held the lead at 11-6.

With his eyes on the prize, Lee would go all out, throwing himself around and building on the unreenting momentum he’d built over Sen, to expand his lead to 16-8.

Despire Sen’s desperate attempts, the Indian would unfortunately be unabe to dig himself out of the deficit and would fall to Lee 11-21.

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