Ace India shuttler Lakshya Sen defeated Indonesia's Jonatan Christie 21-18, 21-12 in the badminton men's singles Group L match and secured a place in the pre-quarters at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Wednesday. Lakshya clinched a win over Christie in 50 minutes at the La Chapelle Arena on Wednesday. The Indian shuttler dominated the Indonesian and won the first game 8-2. Lakshya capitalised in the second to close out the match against Jonatan Christie.
Sen also topped the men's singles Group L and could face HS Prannoy in the upcoming Round of 16 match. The pre-quarterfinals will start on Thursday.
Lakshya Sen was in terrific form and one of his back-hand shots has gone viral. Internet users termed the shots as "Mad, God Like".
Lakshya Sen has no idea how many budding badminton champs he will inspire today just by this one God level shot pic.twitter.com/ksdsxbqhea
— SwatKat (@swatic12) July 31, 2024
That was insane, Lakshya Sen! How could you pull off that shot? Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/buP3RfHVCP
— Kuch Bhi!!!! (@KirkutExpert99) July 31, 2024
Lakshya Sen Mad Bro pic.twitter.com/m9A4VTCFdh
— Rahul Gummadi (@TweetinRahul) July 31, 2024
Earlier on Monday, Lakshya Sen defeated Julien Carraggi of Belgium in the Group L men's singles badminton match at the ongoing Paris Olympics. The Indian defeated his Belgian opponent in straight sets 21-19, 21-14 win. The match lasted for 43 minutes at the La Chapelle Arena.
Lakshya turned over a four-point deficit to clinch the first game, and was in full command in the second over Carraggi.
On Sunday, Lakshya's dominating win over Guatemala's Kevin Cordon in the badminton men's singles Group L match was "deleted" after the Guatemalan pulled out of the multi-sport event due to a left elbow injury.
According to Olympics.com, Cordon withdrew himself from the ongoing Paris Olympics for which his upcoming Group L matches against Indonesia's Jonatan Christie and Belgium's Julien Carraggi will not be played.
As per the BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the result from the match between Lakshya Sen and Kevin Cordon was deleted.
The Indian shuttler will be ranked based on the results of his remaining two matches in Group L. On Saturday, Lakshya defeated Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20. Lakshya won in straight sets with the match lasting 42 minutes.
The Indian shuttler got off to a flying start after winning the first game 21-8 in 14 minutes. Cordon pulled things back, taking a commanding lead in the second and had four game points. However, the 22-year-old Indian turned things around by winning six points in a row to wrap up the game and match.