Paris: Lakshya Sen continued his giant-killing spree at the Paris Olympics 2024 as the 22-year-old prevailed over compatriot HS Prannoy in an all-Indian pre-quarterfinal in men’s badminton singles match on Thursday. Following his big win over All England champion Jonatan Christie a day back, Sen started from where he started as the lad from Almora dominated from the start against his senior.
Such was his domination that Sen won the first set 21-12 before outclassing his opponent with a score of 21-6 to ease into the last eight. In the quarterfinals on Friday, Sen will take on 12th-seeded, Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen. Sen joined Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals in the London and Rio editions of the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
“I think having tough matches gives you confidence. I am now ready to go deep into the tournament. It will be a tricky match against Chou, I have to go and recover well and give my 100 %,” Sen said after the match.
Sen was steady in his defense and mixed his attack well, while Prannoy, who played a three-game match last evening, looked tired and didn’t show much resistance during the 39-minute contest.
It was the end of campaign for Prannoy, who had recovered from a bout of Chikungunya to compete at his maiden Olympics.
Sen was off to a good start, leading 7-4. He kept things under control as Prannoy seemed to struggle, played too defensively and was left to do the catch-up act. Sen closed out the opening game comfortably.
The second game was a blur as Sen looked rock solid and quickly wrapped up the contest after leading all the way.
