'Deleted' match behind, Sen focuses on Christie challenge

Forced to make a fresh start after his opening win was ‘deleted’ off the record books, Lakshya Sen stamped his class to defeat Belgium's Julien Carraggi in straight games in the men's singles badminton group match of the Olympic Games in Paris on Monday.

The 22-year-old Indian ace, who is making his Olympics debut, won the Group L match 21-19, 21-14 in 43 minutes.

Sen's victory over Kevin Cordon, a Tokyo Olympics semi-finalist, in the opening Group L match on Sunday was ‘deleted’ after his Guatemalan opponent pulled out of the Olympics due to a left elbow injury.

"It was a bit hard to find my rhythm in the first game. But I came back and towards the end I stuck in there.

"I did not try to play a perfect game but I just retrieved more shots and attacked on my chances whenever I could," said Sen after the match.

A gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at 2021 World Championships, he will take on third seeded world No. 3 and reigning Asian champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in his last group match on Wednesday.

It will decide which of the two players moves forward in the competition, as only one each from the 16 groups will qualify for the pre-quarters.

"It was a good match today, especially in the first game, happy with the way I converted (the points).

In the second game, I was much more in control. Looking forward to the next game," Sen said.

"Lovely to play in front of such a packed crowd, especially a lot of Indian crowd who came to support me."

Asked if the cancellation of the first match's result had any impact on him, Sen said, "I just took it as a practice match; now it is time for me to just focus on one match at a time. I will rest, recover and try to be at my best against Christie.

"I saw the news yesterday and there is nothing we could do. I wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he gets back soon. Other than that, I am really focussed on the next game."

Sen did not have the best of starts today and was trailing in the first game against his lower-ranked opponent, but came out unscathed thanks to his tenacity.

Ranked 18th in the world, Sen was 8-11 behind in the first change of ends and the gap widened to 8-12.

But from there on, the Indian youngster roared back and levelled the score at 18-18 with the help of some fine smashes.

He was up 19-18 before Carraggi, ranked 52nd in the world, made it 19-19. But Sen held his nerves to win the next two points and pocket the first game.

Having got the momentum, Sen was unstoppable in the second game.

He was 8-2 up in no time and was 11-4 ahead at the change of ends, when he got tips from his star-studded coaching staff featuring Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar.

The Belgian resisted briefly when the scoreline was 14-10 in favour of Sen but the Indian raised his level to make it 18-10 with a fine smash point.

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024