It was a golden finish for India's Lakshya Sen in his debut Commonwealth Games campaign as he beat Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia 2-1 in the men's singles badminton final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Monday.
After a nervous first set loss, the 20-year-old Indian shuttler showed excellent resilience and mental strength to outsmart the World No 42 21-19, 9-21, 16-21.
The World No 10 has now handed India a second gold medal in badminton singles in Birmingham, with Sindhu having acheived the feat already in the women's section.
Lakshya started his game a little slow but soon found his foot with some spectacular returns to take a 6-4 lead. However, Tze Yong brought his A game into play and turned the match 9-11 in his favour at the end of first set's halfway stage.
What followed was a barrage of rallies and fine attacking play from both the shuttlers. However, the narrow lead won earlier kept the Malaysian slighty ahead of the Indian.
A little later, the Indian's excellent defensive returns gave him a slender 18-17 ahead of the Malaysian. It did not last long as Tze Yong bounced back strong to win the set 19-21.
Lakshya, who lacked a little agressiveness in the first set changed his approach altogether in the second. The young shuttler landed a set of powerful smashes onto Tze Yong's court to level the scores at 4-4.
It was a repeat of the first set with the scores 11-9 at halfway stage, the only difference being that Lakshya was in the lead this time around. The former World Junior No 1 started to grow in confidence from there on, taking a 16-9 lead.
The shift in momentum was clearly visible as Lakshya won the second set 21-9 in a matter of few minutes.
In the thrid set, Tze Yong once again brought back his attacking game which had worked for him earlier. However, this time Lakshya was ready for the challenge as he matched the Malaysian with his excellent retrieving capabilities to take a 9-5 lead.
The change of events saw Lakshya end the halfway stage of the third set with a four-point cushion over Tze Yong. Having found his way back into the game, Sen barely allowed the Malaysian to register a comeback and took a 16-12 lead.
It was all-out display of dominance from there on as Lakshya went on to win the set 21-16 to bag gold in his maiden Commonwealth Games campaign with a cross court winner.
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