Indian star shuttler Lakshya Sen had the crowd go crazy by his brilliant victory against world number 3 badminton player Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in a do-or-die group stage match at the Paris Olympics.
While the victory was special in itself, what stuck by the fans’ minds was his unbelievable no-look backhand shot which had his opponent Christie surprised and beaten in the 1st game. Lakshya was playng for the game-point in the 1st game after being behind at the start of the encounter. Having the advantage of the air circulation in the arena to his side as well, Christie’s powerful shots were backed by the wind making it more difficult for Lakshya.
However, that didn’t stop Lakshya Sen from producing the goods as a powerful shot by Christie which seemed to catch Lakshya wrong-footed was returned to him in a jiffy courtesy of an outrageous backhand shot by the Indian shuttler. The return startled Christie as he conceded the match point via an unforced error later on, and eventually lost the game 21-19 against the 22-year-old. Lakshya then went on to win the match by winning the next game too (21-14).
The shot has since being doing the rounds on the internet and has the fans, commentators and pundits in awe of it.
Lakshya’s road to the knockouts
Lakshya Sen had to work harder than the rest of the lot in order to go through to the knockout stages. Having won his first game of the group stage, his opponent was later ruled out of the competition due to injury which meant that Lakshya’s match was deleted and didn’t count.
Still needing 2 wins to qualify, Lakshya had to win an extra match in the end to make it to the knockout stage. With Christie having the upper hand in the head-to-head against the Indian going into the match, Lakshya was determined to go through and played some of his best badminton to book a place for himself.
First Published: Jul 31 2024 | 6:30 p.m IS