Paris Olympics Badminton Semifinal: Lakshya Sen loses to Viktor Axelsen, set to compete for bronze

Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen is set to compete for a bronze Olympic medal after losing his semifinal match. The 22-year-old suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on Sunday. The ace player will have another chance to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff.

The two players have now gone head-to-head nine times with Axelsen winning eight of their encounters. Sen garnered his sole victory over the current World No. 2 during the 2022 German Open semi-finals — where he won 21-13, 12-21, 22-20.

The Indian contingent for Paris has so far won three bronze medals — all of them for shooting.

Sen had recently made history as the first Indian male shuttler to reach the Olympic semifinals. He is also the sole Indian shuttler who remains in contention for a Paris Olympic medal following the exit of prominent players like Satwik-Chirag and PV Sindhu.

India have never won a Olympic gold medal in badminton with PV Sindhu claiming a silver and bronze at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics and Saina Nehwal securing a bronze during the London Games.

Several Indian athletes saw their Olympic hopes dashed this week — including Tokyo edition bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain who bowed out after a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to Li Qian from China. Meanwhile fellow boxer Nishant Dev saw his maiden Olympic campaign end on a heartbreaking note following a split verdict defeat to Mexican athlete Marco Verde Alvarez during the quarterfinals on Saturday night. 

Meanwhile the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian men's hockey team defeated Great Britain in a thrilling quarter-final match to enter the semi-final on Sunday. Regulation time drew to a close with the scores tied at 1-1 and India won the shoot-out 4-2 to advance. 

(With inputs from agencies)