SINGAPORE – Even with a bloodied pinky finger, India’s world No. 19 badminton player Lakshya Sen exemplified the tattoos on his left arm: “Believe” and “never give up”.
After losing the first game and scraping his finger, the 22-year-old bounced back to beat Singapore’s world No. 12 Loh Kean Yew 19-21, 21-15, 21-13 at the Adidas Arena on March 8 and progress to the US$850,000 (S$1.13m) French Open semi-final.
At the end of a 78-minute battle, he claimed the victory in typically defiant fashion following a 35-stroke rally. Loh stretched his opponent with a tight drop shot, and followed up for the kill at the net, only to see the shuttlecock bounce off the outstretched racket of a kneeling Sen.
In a tournament that has already seen Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, China’s Li Shi Feng (No. 4) and Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting (No. 5) dumped at the round of 16, Sen goes on to face Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-finals, while Loh exits with a US$4,675 cheque.
Loh, who beat Frenchman Toma Popov and Ginting in Paris, said: “It’s always disappointing to lose, but Lakshya played well today, especially in defence. I felt I had some breakthroughs here and I played not bad overall at this tournament.
“I will be getting some rest and practice in before heading to Birmingham for the All England Open, and I hope to perform well there.”
The Singaporean drew first blood in a see-saw opener, coming back from 4-7 down to lead 17-13, before surviving a five-point run from Sen to take down the first game.
Sen’s coach Vimal Kumar was heard telling his player to “make him (Loh) work”, and he did that despite requiring medical attention on several occasions to stem his bleeding.
Loh led 8-7 in the second game but found each point hard to come by as Sen stepped up his defence, producing stunning saves and extending the rallies to as many as 50 shots.
The unforced errors started to pile up for Loh and he never really recovered after losing the second game, as the Indian led from start to finish in the decider to extend his head-to-head advantage to 6-3.
Sen told the Badminton World Federation: “I would say the best is yet to come, and I’m hoping for more. The work is still pending, a lot more to do. Having said that, a great performance and a confidence booster for me, especially after the last few months.
“I had needed a lot more match practice and being in there, fighting, finding the solutions inside the court. I felt like I didn’t get many matches in there, in recent months. As I played three good matches in the Badminton Asia Championships, I found the solutions on court with the pressure on, that was missing in the past few months.”
Singapore’s national singles head coach Kelvin Ho said: “Kean Yew wasn’t patient enough to last the match today. It is more a mentality issue than fitness, as he didn’t get into the zone from the second half of the second game onwards. Too many unforced errors cost him the match.
“We will be doing some recovery work and court training with our sparring partner and other players here before we head to Birmingham on Sunday.”
At the All England Open, Loh will face Hong Kong’s world No. 26 Angus Ng in the first round, while compatriot Yeo Jia Min (No. 19) meets Indonesia’s Gregoria Tunjung (No. 7) in the women’s singles. In the mixed doubles, world No. 21 Terry Hee and Jessica Tan will take on Chinese Taipei’s Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang.
