Badminton at Olympics: Lakshya Sen enters men’s singles quarterfinals

Paris, Aug 1 (PTI) India’s Lakshya Sen registered a comfortable straight-game win over compatriot HS Prannoy to become only the third male player ever from the country to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics badminton competition here 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 pre-quarterfinal clash.

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 quarterfinals.

“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 %,” 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.