Paris 2024: Lakshya Sen First Indian Male Shuttler To Reach Semis In Olympics
Sen will now look to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal.
Lakshya Sen became the first Indian male badminton player to reach the semi-finals of the men's singles at the Olympics. The 22-year-old defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen 2-1 in the quarter finals at Paris 2024 on Friday in a come-from-behind victory.
After losing the opening game 19-21, Sen won the second game 21-15 and the third 21-12 against the 12th seed in a thrilling match that was filled with amazing rallies and superb shots. Chou had a head-to-head record of 3-1 against Sen before the match.
Sen, who is the world No. 22, will now look to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal and the third overall after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in badminton. His semi-final match is on Sunday.
In the men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap had reached the quarter finals in London 2012 and Kidambi Srikanth in Rio 2016.
Earlier, Sen had outclassed HS Prannoy in an all-Indian clash in the round of 16 to reach the quarter finals. He had also defeated Indonesia's Jonatan Christie, who is the current world No. 4.
