Lakshya Sen, the Commonwealth Games winner, defeated Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in straight games in Calgary to go to the final of the Canada Open Super 500 badminton competition. Sen defeated the world number 11 Japanese 21-17 21-14 to advance to his second Super 500 final and first BWF summit match in more than a year. Sen, who has dropped to world number 19 after failing to find his form early in the season, entered the match.
The bronze medalist from the 2021 World Championships, an Indian athlete aged 21, will compete against Li Shi Feng of China in the championship match. The youngster admitted that he took time to find his rhythm, but is happy to get his act together. As quoted by The Hindu, he stated:
"It was a pretty bad start, I couldn't control the shuttle well. The moment I got the rhythm at the net (it got better). Near-perfect netplay was the key and we were both trying to do that. Eventually I took control at the net, the smashes were also working. Overall, good tactical game I played and I'm happy with my performance."
PV Sindhu goes down to World No. 1 in women's singles:
Meanwhile, PV Sindhu had an off day, losing World No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women's singles semi-final.
Sen, who reached the final, last played was in August 2022 at the Commonwealth Games. He had a string of early exits from competitions, but he appeared to be on the mend when he advanced to the Thailand Open semifinals.
Lakshya Sen will face Li Shi Feng in the final and the former has a 4-2 head-to-head record over the Chinese player.
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