India’s Lakshya Sen defeated Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong 19-21, 21-9, 21-16 in a thrilling badminton men's singles final to win gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The world No. 10 stumbled in the opening game, only to script an explosive comeback in the next two games. So far, he has faced Yong three times and the Indian shuttler has won on all three occasions.
Twenty-year-old Sen got his first taste of professional success in 2014, when he won the Swiss Junior International. His superb show helped him become the junior world No. 1 in February 2017.
A year later, he improved his performance and won gold at the Asian Junior Championships held in Jakarta. The sixth-seeded Indian shuttler was up against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in that nail-biting final. Sen won the fixture 21-19, 21-18 to bag a historic Asian Junior Championship gold. And with this win, he became the first Indian shuttler to achieve the junior continental title in 53 years.
He carried forward his stunning form in 2018 and emerged victorious at the Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires. In the boys’ singles category he won the silver medal, losing to China’s Li Shifeng in the final. He also bagged the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships.
He continued with his stellar show in international circuit in 2019, claiming his maiden win in a BWF World Tour event. At the Dutch Open 2019, he outclassed Japan’s Yusuke Onodera in the final to win the prestigious event.
Sen kept on mesmerising the world of badminton after he won a bronze medal at the 2021 BWF World Championships.
In May 2022, Sen’s career graph shot up as he helped the Indian team to win their first-ever Thomas Cup title. India had pulled off a convincing start to the final match against 14-time champion Indonesia with Sen beating Anthony Ginting 8-21, 21-17, 21-16 in an exciting contest.
