Indian Badminton player Lakshya Sen in action during the Men’s Singles Group Stage match against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the Olympic Games Paris 2024, in Paris on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)
| Photo Credit: ANI
Jonatan Christie might have been forgiven for thinking he’d won the point.
Down 18-19 in the first game in his Group L men’s singles match against Lakshya Sen, Christie would have thought he’d just pulled level.
After a furious flat exchange, he’d caught the Indian in a bad position and powered a drive to the wrong side of the right-handed Indian.
Christie had almost started celebrating as the shuttle nearly passed the 22-year-old Indian when at the last minute Lakshya whipped his racquet behind his back and returned the shot.
Christie was rushed into a shot and ended up hitting out. By conventional logic, Lakshya should not have won this point. Game point down soon became a game down. Lakshya would make the most of the opening as he wrapped the second game in double quick time to win 21-18, 21-12.
The Indonesian — who got off to a storming start, winning the first five points — walked off the court head bowed down in disbelief.
Figuring it out
“I couldn’t figure out the drift in the first few minutes. The drift was coming in from behind me and Christie was just trying to pin me to the back. But once I got used to the conditions, it was a lot easier. From then onward it was just a matter of keeping that one or two point lead and closing out the game,” Lakshya said.
Indeed that moment of brilliance aside, Lakshya wasn’t trying to do anything spectacular, playing well within his means and waiting for his opponent to make the errors.
“The preparation and the strategy were in place and we didn’t do anything extra. I just wanted to be stuck in there, keep the right length, play good shots, maybe attack. My coaches (Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar) were constantly encouraging me and that made it easier for me.”
It’s hard to call this win an upset — Lakshya is a former world bronze medallist after all. But he was also not the favourite to beat Christie.
The pair had played each other five times before, with the Indonesian winning the last four times from the start of the last season.
Lakshya was only getting his season back on track this year after a dismal run in the second half of the previous season — as a record of 15-10 prior to the Olympics will suggest.
Christie, meanwhile, was coming into Paris in red-hot form as the reigning Asian and All England champion.
If there was ever a time to overcome a streak, it was on Wednesday at the Arena Porte de La Chapelle. The two had been unexpectedly paired together in the league phase. With only the winner of the group going through to the round-of-16, the match was a must-win encounter for both players.
Now that he has made his place in the last-16, Lakshya has all the momentum he could hope for. “I think it was a tough group. I had to be at my best from day one. (Beating a player like Christie) gives you a lot of confidence.
“I haven’t done well against him in our last few matches. They’ve been close and I’ve played well, but I’ve not closed them out. I’m happy with the way the momentum is going and I would love to continue this,” he said.
Earlier, P.V. Sindhu dispatched Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 21-5, 21-10 in 34 minutes to confirm her place in the last-16.
“Criticism is always there. It’s all about how you take it. Even though so many people are saying things, I know what I am. I know how it is to play on court,” Sindhu said.
Meanwhile, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh in the quarterfinals.
