Lakshya Sen keen to build on positives after agonising loss

After another near miss at the All England Open, Lakshya Sen said the gruelling week in Birmingham packed with long matches and formidable opponents has “given a lot of confidence” even though the title slipped away in the championship match.

Lakshya became only the second Indian after his former coach Prakash Padukone to make the men’s singles final of the tournament twice.

He knocked out World No. 1 Shi Yuqi and beat World No. 6 Li Shifeng to reach the semifinals of the oldest badminton tournament.

Lakshya said the semifinal against Canada’s Victor Lai was one of the most physically demanding matches of the week.

“He’s very strong with his defence. To put the shuttle down against him, you really have to wait for the right chance,” he said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

The slow conditions made finishing points even harder for him. The draining contest stretched to 97 minutes and featured an 86-shot rally in the deciding game. Battling cramps and a blister on his foot, the Indian said he had to block out the pain and take the match “one point at a time” to eventually reach the final.

The physical toll of that semifinal carried into the final against Taiwan’s Lin Chun-Yi.

Lakshya admitted that despite trying to recover as much as possible, it was “a little bit too hard to get back to 100% on the next day for recovery.”

Lin, a left-hander known for his sharp attacking angles, edged the opening game. Lakshya fought back in the second with cross smashes to Lin’s backhand, but at 20-20 Lin pulled ahead to seal the title.

“Coming this close and not getting the final win feels a little bit disheartening,” he said. “But it was a good week in terms of the whole tournament.”

Looking ahead, Lakshya said “the focus will be on recovering well from this and then keep on building to peak well in the World Champs and then the Asian Games as well”.