Pullela Gopichand has appealed many times in the past to never lose faith in Lakshya Sen. An Olympic semis doesn’t happen every other day for India’s men’s singles.
Nor do two All England finals. Special talent – explosive net stride – whippy elbow smash – uncrushable attitude: Sen has it all. Those who judge him on first round exits on the Tour events miss the point: he is built for bigger stuff. Like a 3-0 win for India over Japan to assure India a successive team medal.
The bigger stuff comes around every four years in the form of the Asian Games. Yes there is the Olympics. But Asian Games team events simply capture the heart, and never let go. Sen had put India 1-0 ahead against China in 2023 Hangzhou Games team final. Before that he had won India the Thomas Cup In 2022. Paris 2024 saw the Olympics run to semis. His ranking will never reflect it, because consistency is irrelevant. When he’s needed to deliver, Sen fetches up.
As he did against home side Japan whom India were drawn against in the Team Quarterfinals at Nagoya. The start was typically slow. What the world sees as disinterested however, tends to be Sen warming up, mapping the lengths, reading the drift and getting a sense of things. World No 7 Kodai thence raced to take the first set. The 21-11 margin for Kodai might’ve done the job — the lull deceptive enough for the Japanese to relax a tad.
What followed was Sen not giving Kodai enough time to even relax. He would take the second 21-5. The decider fetched up, delegating both sets to a distant memory. Sen then lapsed 10-16 — another fadeout? Another third set no-show? Not so fast. It was the famous Sen grit, the attitude to keep a straight face and wreak havoc. Kodai didn’t know what hit him.
The dazzling reflex defense wasn’t as ostentatious. But coaches Gopichand and Yoo kept reminding him to show some energy, to snap out of the funk that puts him in 10-16 situations.
First thing he did was drag himself out if the doubles-style flat exchanges which on their own aren’t a bad idea, but not against Kodai who plays them better. The length on his lifts too improved. That was not dazzling defense and one of those phases where Sen pulls out ridiculous reflex returns and followed by definitive smash attacks. He instead imposed his unfazed personality – call it attitude – on the game and pulled out a sensational first point for India. He drew out lifts using the net tumbles and the drops. Forcing Kodai to lift brought returns.
The net tumbles are the most underrated part of Sen’s game and as he whittled down the lead, these became crucial coming up to 18-19. A line shuttle plop in back corner took him to 19-19. He had been putting pressure. The tumble leaves you with a bad choice and a worse choice. Kodai ended up hacking it into the net giving Sen a famous win.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – Chirag Shetty then put it past Takuro Hoki – Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 24-22, hiking up their attack to close out. And then Ayush Shetty hopped over a stumble in the end to defeat Koki Watanabe in straight sets, to put India in the semis.