01 August,2024 06:56 AM IST | Mumbai | Shirish Nadkarni
Lakshya Sen returns to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in Paris yesterday. Pic/PTI
Arguably, you could call it the best match of Lakshya Sen's fledgling career. The feat of delivering the coup de grace to the reigning All England and Asian badminton champion, Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, by a 21-18, 21-12 scoreline in a high-pressure, do-or-die Group L clash of the Paris Olympics could hardly be ranked among the 22-year-old Indian's run-of-the-mill victories.
The third seeded Christie, ranked fourth in the world and strongly favoured to bag a medal at these Games, was not just knocked out of the reckoning by a rival who trailed him 1-4 in career meetings, having beaten him just once - as long back as 2020. The Indonesian's challenge was decimated by a determined, highly focused opponent who believed in his own abilities, honed to a fine point by his illustrious coaches, Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar.
Sen's first deed, upon winning the toss, was to select the "bad side" from which the drift would consistently take the shuttle out at the baseline. That was indicative of the fact that he was prepared for a lengthy match, and wanted the side from which he could play the second game and the latter half of the decider. In that, he was even prepared to drop the first game. Not surprisingly, Christie roared to a massive 8-2 lead, occasioned mainly by Sen hitting the shuttle out at the rival baseline with the drift. Refusing to be intimidated by Christie's speed and aggressive intent, the Indian steadied himself and concentrated on simply getting the shuttle back, often from impossible angles. One outrageous shot, where he swung the racquet behind his back to parry a shot back across the net, was not even in the badminton manual.
Also Read: Lakshya Sen knocks out World No. 3 Jonatan Christie, enters pre-quarters
Gradually narrowing the gap between him and Christie, Sen made his move at 16-18, upping the pace and attacking more, to catch the Indonesian repeatedly off-balance and force errors. In a trice, he had taken the final five points of the game, and moved to the better side of the court from where he could hit his tosses as hard as he liked in the knowledge that the diabolical drift would drag them back into the court at the opposite baseline.
Right through the match, Sen adopted the "Djokovic strategy" of retrieving everything from impossible positions, and making his opponent play that extra stroke. Christie, known to be a steady and mentally tough player, did not expect this sterling temperament from his "bunny", and was frankly nonplussed towards the end when Sen hurtled to a 19-12 lead.
One particular retrieve at this point, when the Indian scurried diagonally across the court, from the net to the forehand back corner, and powered the shuttle back, was absolutely breathtaking. It was the final straw that broke the camel's back, and Christie acknowledged that he had been bested on the day by a player who now looks every bit a medal contender.
In the pre-quarter-finals, Sen will have the misfortune of running most probably into compatriot HS Prannoy, who was scheduled to play his own final group match late on Wednesday night. The then 19-year-old Sen had had a similar experience at the 2021 World Championship, when he had been forced to settle for bronze after losing in the semi-finals to fellow-countryman Kidambi Srikanth. This time, he should be better prepared.
Earlier in the day, there was no stopping PV Sindhu, who marched inexorably towards a last-16 meeting with China's He Bing Jiao, the girl she had beaten in the bronze medal play-off at the Tokyo Olympics, three years ago. Sindhu conceded exactly 15 points in two games (21-5, 21-10) to Kristin Kuuba of Estonia - the same number she had conceded in her earlier group match against Fathimath Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives (21-9, 21-6).
