Kumamoto Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen has once again shown his talent and fighting spirit. Lakshya won the title by defeating local player Koki Watanabe in the men's singles final of Masters Japan Open played in Kumamoto, Japan. Despite losing the first game, the Indian shuttler made a brilliant comeback and won 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in the match that lasted one hour and four minutes. This is his second consecutive title after winning the Hilo Open in Germany.
With this victory, Lakshya has also taken a significant step towards qualifying for the BWF World Tour Finals to be held in Hangzhou. The 25-year-old player from Almora said after the match that winning the title in Japan is special for him. Last year he had reached the semi-finals of this tournament, but this time he was successful in winning the title. He said that he would like to maintain his current rhythm in future also.
The match turned around after coming back from defeat
Lakshya said that maintaining confidence in difficult situations was the biggest reason for his victory. In many matches, he has made a comeback after falling behind by one game. It was important for him to maintain faith in himself and not give up. Now his focus is on the next tournament to be held in Hong Kong.
Before the final, Lakshya's record against Japanese player Watanabe was 3–2, but he had to face defeat in the last two matches. Watanabe started aggressively in the first game as well. He kept the target under pressure by continuously hitting accurate smashes and took an early lead. Lakshya tried to reduce the score difference, but the Japanese won the first game 21–13.
In the second game, Lakshya took control of the game from the beginning. He took a 5-0 lead and showed excellent control at the net. The Indian players maintained a lead of five points till the interval. However, Watanabe recovered from 10-19 down to score consecutive points to take the score to 17-19. Lakshya maintained his composure under pressure and hit an accurate smash to win the game 21-18.
Lakshya's strong performance in the decisive game
The third and deciding game saw many exciting rallies between the two players. Lakshya started taking the lead after the 3-3 draw and went ahead 9-6. By the interval they had achieved a lead of four points. After this, the Indian player played brilliantly and increased the score to 17-7.
Watanabe once again tried to make a comeback and scored consecutive points to take the score to 13-19. But Lakshya secured seven match points with two excellent returns and clinched the title with a cross-court winner on the second occasion.
Expected to reach sixth place in the ranking
Before this tournament, eighth seed Lakshya was ranked 12th in the 'Race to Finals Ranking' with 64,980 points. To make it to the BWF World Tour Finals, it is necessary to finish in the top eight. He got 9,200 points for winning the Super 500 tournament. He is expected to reach 74,180 points and reach sixth place when the rankings are updated on Tuesday.
However, the race to qualify for the finals in Hangzhou is not over yet. The Hong Kong Open will be played from 17 to 22 November and will be the last tournament for qualification.
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