Lakshya Sen lost in a tough match against world number seven Li Shifeng. Lakshya Sen fought well in this exciting match that lasted three games, but he could not maintain his rhythm in the deciding game.
Sports News: India has suffered an initial setback against China in the final stage of badminton’s prestigious team competition Thomas Cup. China took the lead in the crucial Group A match when India’s top men’s singles player Lakshya Sen suffered a tough defeat against world number seven Li Shifeng. In this thrilling match that lasted three games, Lakshya Sen lost 19-21, 21-8, 12-21. With this result, India trails China by 0-1.
First game: close contest, but China took the lead
The first game was very exciting. Initially Lakshya Sen made a strong comeback and leveled the score. Fast smashes and long rallies were seen between both the players. Li Shi Feng led 10-8 at the break, but Lakshya staged a comeback to take the lead 14-13. Despite this, after a 19-19 tie, Lee won the first game by winning two consecutive points.
Second game: Lakshya Sen’s brilliant counterattack
Lakshya Sen made a brilliant comeback in the second game. They played aggressively from the beginning and took a 5-0 lead. After this, he put pressure on the Chinese player by taking the score to 11-2. Li Shi Feng was seen making many unforced errors in this game, of which the Indian players took full advantage. Lakshya Sen easily won the second game to level the match at 1-1.
Third game: India’s mistake at the crucial juncture
The match became exciting again in the decisive third game. Initially Lakshya Sen was trailing 1-4, but he made a brilliant comeback and leveled the score at 7-7. The match was very close till the break, but after that Li Shi Feng took advantage of some mistakes of the Indian player and took the lead. They increased the score to 17-12 and then put the match in their favor by continuously applying pressure. In the end, Li won with a brilliant cross-court smash to give China a 1–0 lead.
After this defeat, India’s hopes now rest on other matches. The next important match for the Indian team will be in men’s doubles, where Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face the strong Chinese pair.
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