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Riding on his brilliant run in 2022, Lakshya Sen has now added a gold medal to his bulging cabinet after beating Tze Yong NG 21-19, 21-9 in the final of the badminton event of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 in Birmingham on Monday, August 8. The 21-year-old star shuttler now joins PV Sindhu in winning the second gold medal for India.
It was a very hard-fought match for Lakshya Sen, who lost the first set by the narrowest of margins. However, since then it was smooth sailing for the Thomas Cup champion as well, who routed his opponent 21-9 in the second set, before wrapping up the match, and the medal with a score of 21-16.
10th-ranked Sen came from behind to end Ng Tze Yong's giant-killing run in the competition. The 20-year-old defeated the world number 42 from Malaysia 19-21, 21-9, 21-16.
Sen trailed for the majority of the first game but stayed close to the Malaysian who had accounted for world champion Yew Kean Loh and Kidambi Srikanth in his previous two matches.
Sen made it 19-18 from 16-19 before Yong produced back-to-back forehand winners to gain a game point. Sen misjudged a baseline call after a gruelling rally to hand the advantage to Yong.
The second game was one-way traffic after Sen led 11-9 at the interval. The Indian took 12 points in a row post the break to level the final. Yong made a slew of unforced errors and it seemed he wanted to preserve energy for the third game.
Sen was at his attacking best in the decider and led until the end. Yong tried his best to mount a comeback but Sen was unstoppable. He converted his first match point following a long rally, leading to a frenzied celebration that saw him throw his racket into the stands. Lakshya Sen is among the top talents in the current badminton squad, with golds at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in the boys' singles as well as the Summer Youth Olympics in the mixed team event.
He also won the bronze medal at the 2021 World Championships and was a runner-up at 2022 All England Open. Sen was also a part of the Indian team which won the Thomas Cup 2022.
