India's Lakshya Sen registered a comfortable straight-game win over compatriot H S Prannoy to become only the third male badminton player ever from the country to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Games, in Paris, on Thursday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a reigning Commonwealth Games champion and a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, looked in complete control as he notched up a 21-12, 21-6 win over World No 13 Prannoy in a 39-minute clash.
The Indian youngster will take on Chou Tien-Chen in the last eight match on Friday at 6.30pm IST.
Sen joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio edition of the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
Currently ranked 22, Sen will face 12th seed Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the quarter-finals.
"I think having tough matches gives you confidence. I am now ready to go deep into the tournament. It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 percent," Sen said after the match.
Sen was steady in his defense and mixed his attack well, while Prannoy, who played a three-game match last evening, looked tired and didn't show much resistance during the 39-minute contest.
It was the end of campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to a good start, leading 7-4. He kept things under control as Prannoy seemed to struggle, played too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act. Sen closed out the opening game comfortably.
The second game was a blur as Sen looked rock solid and quickly wrapped up the contest after leading all the way.
