The return from Lee Zii Jia was wide. Lakshya Sen threw his racket up in the air. It was all over. He was through to the men’s singles final of the All-England badminton championship.
No Indian had reached there since Pullela Gopichand did in 2001. That makes Lakshya’s 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 win in the semifinal against the defending champion from Malaysia even more significant.
The 20-year-old from Almora (Uttarakhand) has been in some sparkling form this year and has made a habit of killing giants like Lee, the World No. 7. At the All-England championship, he had shocked World No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals.
