Lakshya Sen has joined an elite and rare list of Indian shuttlers to make the final of the prestigious event.
Surely India used to root for Srikanth Kidambi or Sai Praneeth or even Prannoy HS and Parupalli Kashyap, however, currently the hot favourite Indian shuttler has to be the young Lakshya Sen, who has been doing wonders in the field of badminton.
The 20-year-old has continued his rapid rise in the Badminton world as he reached the final of the ongoing 2022 All England Open Championship by defeating defending champion Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia in the semi-final.
By virtue of his achievement, Sen has become the fifth Indian (fourth male) ever to reach the final of the All-England Open. In fact, Sen has become only the first Indian man to reach the final of the All England Open 2021 in 21 years.
He has joined an elite and rare list of Indian shuttlers to make the final of the prestigious event, here's a look.
1. 1947: Prakash Nath (runner-up)
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The 1946 national badminton champion Prakash Nath hailed from Lahore (pre-partition). The then 23-year-old had faced Denmark's Conny Jepsen in the summit clash. However, the Indian failed to maintain his rhythm of the tournament as he conceded a 7-15, 11-15 defeat.
On his road to the final, Prakash Nath had even defeated defending champion Tage Madsen of Denmark, Ireland's Tod Majury and fellow Indian and friend Devinder Mohan.
When it came to the quarters against the Indian, the two settled the score off the court by simply doing a toss. The incident had drawn highlights during that time. After he won the toss, Prakash Nath then went on to defeat Englishman Radford in the semi-finals to become the first Indian to reach the final.
Pic courtesy: National Badminton Museum
2. 1980: Prakash Padukone (champion)
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Since 1978, Prakash Padukone was on a roll. From winning each successive national championship until 1979 to winning singles badminton gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1978. The man dominated the top European players and had won both the Danish Open and the Swedish Open.
However, his greatest accomplishment came in 1980 when he became the first Indian to win the All England Championships. The win had catapulted Padukone to the number one spot in the world badminton ranking, making him the first Indian to achieve that status.
The Indian shuttler had defeated Indonesian player Liem Swei King in the final to clinch the trophy 15–3, 15–10. However, in 1981, the results reversed and the Indonesian shuttler had defeated Padukone 11-15, 15–4, 15–6.
Pic courtesy: Ranveer Singh Twitter
3. 2001: Pullela Gopichand (champion)
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After Prakash Padukone, the next Indian to win the trophy was current national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand. He had won the All England Championship in 2001. Gopichand had until 2000 three runners up finishes (1997 India Open and 1999 French and German Opens) to his name.
Talking about the England Open, Gopichand was seeded a lowly 10th in the tournament and with his knee troubles, no one counted the then 27-year-old to even move to the next round. However, the Indian shuttler proved to be the dark horse and proved everyone wrong.
He first went past Singaporean shuttler Ronald Susilo, and then English national champion Colin Houghton in the second round. He even defeated China’s Ji Xinpeng – the reigning Olympic champion to progress to the quarter-finals. He next faced Danish youngster Anders Boesen and made it to the semi-finals where he went head-on against World No. 1 Peter Gade – a former All England winner and five-time European champion.
But nothing stopped Gopichand and he won the first and only time against this opponent and went on to face China's, Chen Hong. Gopichand had won the match 15-12, 15-6 to claim his first major title on in 2001.
Pic courtesy: Olympic website
4. 2015: Saina Nehwal (runner-up)
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The former World No 1 Saina Nehwal has many international titles to her name and she had also become the first Indian shuttler to win the bronze medal in the London Games in 2012.
In 2015, she attained the top ranking to become the only Indian woman to claim the milestone. It was also the same year that Nehwal had finished as the runner-up in the All England Open.
Saina was seeded third in this edition. After top-seed Li Xuerui had made an early exit, all had hoped that Nehwal could bag her maiden All England title.
She had thrashed Bellaetrix Manuputty in the first round, while in the second, she ousted South Korean Kim Hyo-min. In the quarters she went up against fifth seed Wang Yihan of China, while she faced another Chinese opponent in the shape of Sun Yu in the semis.
Talking about the final, she was up against Spaniard Carolina Marin. The 2016 Olympic gold medallist was in supreme form and that showed as Nehwal lost 16-21, 21-14, 21-7.
Pic courtesy: AFP File Photo
5. 2022: Lakshya Sen (Finalist)
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The young Lakshya Sen has been in top form and he made sure to show it as he ended Lee Ziii Jia's title defence in the men's singles semi-final of All England Open 2022. Sen in an hour and 16 minutes showed class and grit as he defeated Lee Zii Jia, the defending champion, 21-13, 12-21, 21-19.
The player will be eyeing to become only the 3rd Indian to win the prestigious title when he will face Denmark's, Viktor Axelsen.
Talking about Sen's form, he had won the world championships bronze last year before he went on to win his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open earlier this year.
In fact, just last week, Lakshya had stunned the World No. 1 Axelsen to finish as the runners-up at the German Open.
Pic courtesy: BAI Media Twitter
