Birmingham, March 19: World No. 32 Lakshya Sen stormed into the Final of the All England Open 2022 by defeating higher ranked Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in the semifinal stage on Saturday in Birmingham, England.
Sen took a solid lead in the game by winning the first game of the match by 21-13.
What have we just witnessed 🤯
Lakshya Sen is through to the YONEX All England final after beating Lee Zii Jia.
AMAZING! #YAE22 pic.twitter.com/EiKKPzQrB7
— 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 19, 2022
LAKSHYA ENTERS FINAL 🥳🥳
After an amazing encounter between defending Champion 🇲🇾’s Lee Zii Jia & 🇮🇳’s @lakshya_sen, guess who made it to the FINALS 😎
He becomes the 1st Indian male finalist of the prestigious @YonexAllEngland in 21 years
Superb Effort 🙌🤟#AllEngland2022 pic.twitter.com/Iiceu1YpfP
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) March 19, 2022
However, the Malaysian made a strong comeback and hit a string of sensational winners to claim the second game. In the decider, Lakshya Sen put up a phenomenal fight, didn’t give up and eventually won it 21-19.
With this win, Sen became the fifth Indian shuttler to reach the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships.
The 20-year-old from Almora, who had a great start to 2022 by winning the India Open and reaching the final of the German Open last week, had earlier got a walkover from his opponent world No 27 Lu Guang Zu of China in the quarter-finals.
The young Indian shuttler is in great form, having beaten world champion Loh Kean Yew and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in recent weeks.
Only two Indians — Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand — have won the prestigious title.
(With Inputs From IANS)
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