Olympics: Lakshya Sen to play for badminton bronze

Lakshya Sen / ImageCredits:BAI_Media/X

It was not Lakshya Sen’s day. He lost the game point in the first set and went down tamely in the second to bow out of gold medal contention in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Defending champion Viktor Alexsen beat Lakshya Sen 22-20, 21-14 to set up a title clash with Kunalvut Vitidsarn of Thailand. Kunalvut defeated Zil Jia Lee of Malaysia in the second semi-final.

Lakshya remains in the hunt for an Olympic medal in the men’s section as he takes on seventh seed Zil Jia Lee in the bronze game. India is still looking for its first Olympic medal in men’s badminton.

He started well against his more experienced opponent and matched him point to point till it reached the final stage where experience prevailed upon youth. Viktor Alexsen won 22-20.

In the second game, the dominance of Viktor Alexsen was apparent as he built a lead steadily to emerge a comfortable winner at 21-14 to book his berth for the second successive Olympic final in men’s singles.

In the second semi-final, eighth seed Kunalvut Vitidsarn defeated seventh seed Zil Jia Lee in straight sets 21-14, 21-15 to become the first Thai shuttler to reach the gold medal round.