English
Birmingham: India’s 20-year-old badminton sensation Lakshya Sen would be brimming with confidence when he locks horns with Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the All England Open 2022 on Sunday. The young Indian showed what it takes to make it to the final of the mega event on Saturday with a well-fought win over defending champion Lee Zii Jia 21-13 12-21 21-19.
With the win, Sen became fourth Indian – after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980 and 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) – to make the All England final.
In Axelsen, the Indian would meet an opponent he has got the better off not long back. Sen beat Axelsen in the German Open recently to make the summit clash. He would surely take a lot of confidence from that.
Sen sounded confident ahead of the summit clash which will take place on Sunday.
“There’s one more match to go. Then I can say anything I want. For now, I’m focussed on one more match. All those times, when people said (good things about me), it gave me the belief that I can do well, that belief kept me going,” he said after the win over Zii Jia.
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.
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